my folks as well and all your encouragement to them. Appreciate that. Pray also for the Walls and their great physical needs that they're facing at this time. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 13. So we are stuck between Black Friday and Cyber Monday right now. So I don't know. And I had the title Black Sunday, Finding the Best Deal. I don't know. There's probably a better name we could find for this Sunday. But what is the best deal out there right now? The best deal. Brother Berry, would you lead us in prayer, please, sir? this week, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. 1 Corinthians 13, and we'll just read through this chapter here. Verse 1, Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not what? Charity. I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not what? Charity. I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not what? Charity. It profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in what? The truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never what? Faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then, So we've just gone through another Black Friday and you know now really it's not just Black Friday, it's like Black Week. It's like all the stores want to get a jump on the other stores. They want to make the profits and so it's like they're starting, it seems like they're starting their Black Friday sales earlier and earlier and earlier. Because if it's only Black Friday sales and you can only go to so many stores and the stores are afraid you're going to go to the other stores instead of them. So everybody seems to be running their sales earlier and earlier. But does Black Friday really have the best deals? Well, Black Friday may have the cheapest deals, but the best deals, that's debatable. Almost everything we go to buy out there says made in China. So it's hard for me to say those are the best deals. It might be the cheapest, but not necessarily the best. But it made me wonder, how many things, how many Chinese things are we doing in our lives? We may think, wow, I'm really trying to do the right thing, but is it Chinese? I'm not trying to pick on the Chinese, but it's just a fact about the quality and it's a fact that they persecute Christians. Long before the quality was an issue with me, that they torture and kill Christians. And I just read recently that our government did some type of sanctions or something on Vietnam because they, I can't think of the term, but they sold us a bunch of products that were like way below market value. And so, you know, To me it's it's strange it we don't seem to remember history. I mean there's there's some in here that remember the Vietnam War Did we win that war No, we pulled out just like Afghanistan and Iraq and and you know what so the communist North Vietnam was communist and we were trying to help South Vietnam and And it was just a political war. Actually, I guess it was never a declared war. It was a conflict. And all those lives that were lost. And so what do we do? We allowed the communists then to come in and take over South Vietnam. And so now we're freely trading with Vietnam. Communists. They hate Christians. Anyway, back to the point. People buy all kinds of Chinese products because it seems like that's about 90% of what's out there. Sometimes I search and search and search for something, and I cannot find that product other than made in China. It's frustrating to me. I would rather pay more for the product and finding it not made there, but so many times you can't. But when we stand before God, Will we find that we, in our lives, really chose the best deal? Or did we sell ourselves short? You know, we're just getting used to it today. You know, it used to be if you buy a refrigerator, you expected it to last 20, 30, 40 years. If you bought a washing machine, you expected it to at least last 20 years. And with appliances and now, you know, you read and you say, well, how long is this washing machine going to last? Three years? Three years? Wow, what happened? Well, we were just talking about what happened. Everything is throwaway now. It's made cheaply. It doesn't necessarily sell cheaply, but it's made cheaply. But in our lives, are we really choosing the best deal? Notice with me in Matthew 6. If we don't choose the best deal, the reward's going to be very short-lived. In fact, it's going to go by so quick, we're going to wonder what happened. I think when we built this house and bought the hot water heater, They told us the life expectancy on a hot water heater now is seven years. I think in seven years. By God's grace, it's lasted, well, I guess it's 20 some years now, but it's like everything in life is so short-lived. In Matthew 6.1, it says, take heed that you do not your arms, what? Before men to be what? Seen of them. Otherwise, you have what? No reward of your Father, which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have what? Glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have what? Their reward. Well, what is their reward? It's the glory of men. How long does that last? You know, it's kind of like people that do things for applause. Well, that lasted a long time, didn't it? No, it doesn't. So, and if they do it for the glory of men, verse two, then verse one says we have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. So, that action, it's not gonna be worth it. That's not the best deal. If we want a real and lasting reward, we have to do it from the heart. Notice verse three. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee well. So if we want a real and lasting reward in everything we do, it's got to be from the heart. In verse 3, what does it mean? What does that mean? Well, if you're counting money, it usually takes two hands. So the idea of verse 3 is not only not doing it in front of other people just to receive their glory, the praise of man, but not even in our own wicked hearts, our own wicked prideful hearts. If we're thinking, wow, 10, 20, 30, wow, look at all I'm doing for God. Our own heart is so desperately wicked. That's what verse 3 is getting at. Don't even glory over it inside. So if we give, we need to do it out of love from our hearts. Notice in 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 3, how much do we really do out of love? in our lives. The best deal is doing everything out of love for God and love for others. If there's any other reason There's no reward in heaven. That's not a good deal. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 11 shows us how everything's going to be sorted out. Verse 11, brother foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what? What sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive what? If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. If you go back to verse 12, now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver. Now when you put gold and silver through the fire, what does it do? Purifies it. Purifies it. If you hold your place here, notice with me in Psalm chapter 12. Psalm chapter 12. You put gold and silver through the fire and it's purified. In Psalm 12, verse 6, we'll read 6 and 7. Verse 6 says, the words of the Lord are what? Pure words as what? Silver tried in a what? Furnace. What's in a furnace? Fire. Tried in a furnace of fire and then what? purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. So if you heat up silver or gold, then the impurities are gonna come to the top and you skim those off, heat it up again, verse six, seven times, and you have pure silver, pure gold. And so we need to do these things from a pure heart. So if we go back to 1 Corinthians 13, let's look at this chapter, also known as the love chapter. In charity, charity is a giving love for nothing in return. That's what true charity is. It's just you give and it's not for anything back. It's just pure, just giving. First Corinthians 13, one, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. So someone can be a great public speaker. But if that speaking is only done for the praise of man or for a wicked prideful heart that only wants the applause of people and the praise of people, then that person might as well be up here with cymbals. banging them together instead of talking. Just, how would you like to come in here and for 20, 30 minutes just have somebody stand up here and just boom, boom, boom with cymbals? What would you get out of it? A headache? I don't know, that's probably it. But the Bible tells us here that a person may speak with the tongue of men and angels, a great orator, but if it's not done out of charity, if it's not done out of love, then you might as well be standing up here banging. pots and pans. It's not going to accomplish anything in eternity if we don't have love. We're just making noise. If you go to verse 2, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, So you think about, have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and all knowledge. So if someone stands up before people and they have quite a gift for understanding things and putting it all together, and if they could lay out for us some things, you can do this like with types in scripture. I was thinking about Joseph the other day. Joseph is a type of Christ. Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him. Jesus, his Jewish brothers wanted to kill him. They ended up selling him for silver. Judas sold Christ for silver. And so Joseph goes down into Egypt and takes a Gentile bride. So the Jewish people, for the most part, rejected Christ. So what happened? He took out a Gentile bride. That's us. The Jewish people today, for the most part, are still rejecting Christ. So he's taken out for himself a Jewish bride. But despite all of that, the Lord Jesus still loves the Jewish people. And one day he's coming back and he's going to rule and reign from Jerusalem. And interestingly, just like Joseph still loved his brethren, he took care of them. Um, He had his brothers brought from where they were to where he was, Egypt, to care for them, just like Jesus is going to come and take us from where we are on earth to him. He's going to take care of us there. So many parallels. So someone could stand up and just cause us to just be amazed, you know, all the different things they put together. But if it's not done in love, Verse 2 says, the end saying, and have not charity, I am what? Nothing. Verse 3, and though I besow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I get my body to be burned, and have not what? Charity. It what? Profiteth me nothing. The bottom line in eternity, zero. It profits nothing. So people may do great sacrificial acts for others, but if it's not done in love, it profits nothing. It was interesting for me to watch people and their response after President Trump was shot. Elon Musk came out then. He was getting more conservative, but he did not come out in favor of President Trump until that moment. Then he did. I was just reading about Zuckerberg from Facebook and talking to President Trump now and wanting to be a part of this national movement. Well, I don't know what's in his heart, whether it's just for the sake of financial gain or if he truly is having a heart for America. I don't know, but he said, The change in him, I read it, he said the change in him came when he saw President Trump shot and his response. These are fellow billionaires. If you're a billionaire and if you don't know Christ as your savior, what do you have but your money? So those people normally do not want to die. Because all that money, that's all they have. They don't have Christ. They have no assurance of heaven. So I find it interesting that these fellow billionaires, what turned their hearts was President Trump's love for this country. Even despite being shot, he immediately gets up and tells people to fight, fight for the country. And it did something to people's hearts, fellow billionaires thinking, if that would have been me, what would I have done? Would they have crawled off that stage, that platform, and tried to get in an armored car and never again speak in public? President Trump didn't do that. He showed his love for the nation more than his life. He showed his love for this nation of ours and for us. Can people see that in us only not for our nation but for God's? Do we have love? It's like Brother Steve mentioned in Brother Needham's prayer letter that fellow pastor there in Cameroon, he took his wife and I think a child too with him. I mean, he went to that village knowing that other people had been killed there. He went there anyway to be captured to preach the gospel to them. Knowing that he could have died, his wife could have died, his child could have died, but God spared his life. So where is our heart? Where is our heart? Notice in Matthew 22, Matthew 22. Can people see in us really where our hearts are? Matthew 23. And verse 36, Matthew 23, 36. Master, which is a great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt what? Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That's Matthew 22, 36 through 40. Notice in Proverbs 4, Proverbs 4 and verse 23. Proverbs 4, what is the best deal? I mean, we are right between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I wonder how many people were not in church this weekend because they're just tuckered out. I mean, there was Thanksgiving celebrations, then there's Black Friday shopping, and then tomorrow, you know, maybe at midnight tonight, they plan on being up on the computer hitting the Cyber Monday sales. What's really the best deal? Proverbs 4.23, keep thy what? Heart. With all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. You know, salvation only comes when it's a decision of the heart. Salvation starts with the heart. Notice in Romans chapter 10, Romans 10, Boy, the Lord brought out good groups at both places today. Wasn't that a blessing to see what He did? Romans 10, 9. that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe where? In thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be what? Saved. For with what? The heart man believeth under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made into salvation. So there is no salvation unless it comes from the heart. It's a heart decision. Notice also in Ephesians 3, Ephesians 3, Ephesians chapter 3 and verse, we'll read 17 through 19. Ephesians 3, 17. That Christ may dwell where? In your hearts by faith. That ye, being rooted and grounded in what? Love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know what? love of Christ which passeth knowledge." That sounds like what we looked at this morning, doesn't it? A peace that passes understanding. Now we're talking about a love which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. But what starts in the heart must continue in the heart. Notice with me, let's compare two passages. 1 Thessalonians 1, 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 2 and 3. We're gonna compare this with a passage in Revelation in a moment. 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 2 and 3. The Bible says unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. I'm sorry, I'm in Timothy. 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 2 and 3. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering without ceasing your what? I want you to remember that. Work of faith. And what? Labor of love. Remember that. So it's work of faith, labor of love, and what? Patience of hope. So remember those three. Work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. If you could hold your place there and turn to me to Revelation 2. Revelation 2 and verse 1. We'll read verses 1 through 4. Revelation 2, 1, under the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know what? Thy works. and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left," what? They first loved. So in verse 2 he talks about works, labor, But if you go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 3, remembering without ceasing your work of what? Faith and labor of what? Love and patience of what? Hope. They've lost their first love in Revelation 2. And so it's just works, but not work of faith. It's just labor, but not labor of love. Patience, but not patience of hope. What starts in the heart must continue in the heart. When we give, it needs to be from the heart. Notice in 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7. 2 Corinthians 9, 7. Every man, according as he purposeth where? In his heart. So let him what? Give. Not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. So our giving needs to be from our heart. If we want an eternal reward, it's got to be from the heart, not pressure. That's why we don't do a faith promise system, not for building, not for missions. I have sat in those. And I can't believe that a good percentage of those people that sit in those are giving from their hearts because pressure is put on. I remember one I sat in a missions conference, and it's typical in mission conferences, the last night is the big faith promise push. And there was a missionary, in fact, he was from Papua New Guinea many years ago. And he was talking about this national pastor in Papua New Guinea, how he was so poor, dirt poor, and he tried to explain just how poor he was, and how he was giving a faith promised offering of a huge amount compared to what he made. And I didn't agree with faith promise, but after hearing the story, I contacted that missionary and I said, I would like to give a gift to that national pastor. He never answered me. The missionary never answered me. He went through the pastor of the church where I was at at that mission conference and sent word through that pastor to please tell me that that was not possible because that national pastor had fallen into sin and wasn't even in the ministry. And that was his powerful illustration milking God's people, trying to get them to feel guilty for not giving sacrificially to missions. And I thought, you, sir. dishonest, dishonest. Telling a tear-jerking story like that just to get the people to give, knowing full well that man is not even in the ministry anymore because of sin. And In doing research, it was Oswald Chambers that came up with that faith promise missions idea, giving money that you don't have. We cover that in the Money to Bible course. There is so much dishonesty in that. It's just, you know what? We don't need to operate that way, do we? You know what? If God is in something, he will move God's people to do it. And if he's not in it, then it will not be so. We don't have to trick people and put them on a guilt trip to try to get more money for some cause, even if it's a good cause. So giving, if we want the best deal in giving, We must give from where? Our hearts. And I'm talking about the best deal is the best returns in eternity. It's got to be from our hearts. What about singing? Let's go to Ephesians 5, Ephesians chapter 5. And verse 19, Ephesians 5, 19. speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody where? In your heart, to the Lord. Just think of all the groups that tour America and the world that claim to be Christian groups. Are they going to receive any reward for that in heaven? Well, it depends on if it's from their heart. It depends on verse 19. If their music matches what God tells us, Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, that's a big thing. But even if it's Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, if it's not done from their heart, if it's done for the praise of men, there's going to be no reward in heaven. What is the typical touring group today. It's, you know, they close their song with, you know, it's like, just like the world, you know, awaiting applause. No reward in heaven. No reward. So it must be from the heart. What about all of our labors? Look at Ephesians 6, Ephesians 6, 5, verses 5 and 6. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of what? your heart as unto Christ. Verse 6, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from where? The heart. Going to work every day can bring an eternal reward if Verse five, it's done from the heart unto Christ. Verse six, if it's doing the will of God, God, do you want me to do this job? So I'm gonna do it from my heart to you. Then there's an eternal reward for that. What about obeying God's commands? First Timothy chapter one. First Timothy chapter one and verse five. Now the end of the commandment is what? Charity. Out of what? Pure heart. And of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. So, you know, we may be obeying the commandments of God. We may be obeying the commandments of our parents. We may be obeying the commands of our boss at work. We may be obeying the commands of our governments. whatever commands, rules we are under, but if we're not doing it from the heart, there's no reward. It's got to be from the heart. It's got to be charity from the heart. Notice in 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2. In verse 22, 2 Timothy 2, 22. It says, flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, and then what? Charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of what? A pure heart. A pure heart. How much of what we do is really from our heart? Is there ever any task you do that you think, whoever asked you to do it, maybe it's the boss, who knows? You'd find yourself begrudgingly doing it. You know what helps me is when in those tasks, I just ask myself the question, if Jesus had asked me to do this, would I do it? Yes, I would. And with what? A pure heart. If Jesus asked me to make the bed, do you think I would just throw those covers up there and good enough? Would you do that for Jesus? No, I would make sure every wrinkle was out of it for Jesus. If Jesus asked me to wash the car, would I just run over it? You know, not that good of a job. No, I would I would do it the best I could. There are just so many things in life that. If we're not careful, we're not doing it from our heart as unto Christ. Responding to the word of God, notice in Hebrews four, Hebrews four, Hebrews 4, if we would just ask ourselves that question. Okay, I've been asked to do this or there's a need here. Should I do it or should I just let them do it? If it was Jesus, would I do it? Of course I would. If it was Jesus, how well would I do it? The best I can, the best I could. Hebrews 4, 12. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to dividing the center of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of what? Heart. The word of God checks out the intents of our heart. We'll go one more, 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1, verse 22. First Peter 1.22, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another with what? A pure heart, what? Fervently, a pure heart. Isn't it a shame sometimes that Christians bicker, you know, don't get along? Somebody was just relating the story of a football game. I think it was Was it yesterday? Or they had a fight? Well, actually, I was told there's a lot of football games. I guess it had fights this weekend. So a football game with a fight. It just happens I've read about, it was between Michigan and Ohio was the first one I heard about the fight. But I read about not too many weeks ago, months ago, that on Ohio State's campus, They said they were experiencing a revival. Now, I don't know what the basis, I don't know the church background of any of these people, but they said the impetus of it, the thrust of it on campus was coming from the football team on Ohio State. And like I said, they talk about a lot of so-called revivals that are just rock and roll festivals and emotional. That's not a revival, true revival. So I don't know what's really going on in Ohio State. But if it was a true revival amongst the football team, all I know is that Somebody greatly failed yesterday. It wasn't from their heart treating the team they're hosting. But I just wonder in our lives, The best deal, the best choice we can make in life is serving the Lord with a pure heart. It's serving our fellow believers with a pure heart. It's not begrudging them. It's not complaining. It's like, you know, Matthew 25, when we serve one another, we are serving Christ. That's the reward. That's the way Christ is looking at it. No, we're not setting each other up as gods, no. But Christ himself says, when you love the brethren in that way, you're doing it unto me. And are we living a Chinese life? Are we just spewing out junk that's not going to last? We need to serve with a pure heart. Everything we do, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And so, wow. And you know, life is so much more enjoyable. Brother Tim had a message at Green Acres today, just about things we can give at Christmas time that don't cost anything. and bring us joy. That was the whole thrust of it. Things that don't cost anything, but they do bring us joy. And you know what? There's so much joy in life when we serve others out of love, a pure heart, fervently. It just makes life so much more joyful, so much more happy. so much more peaceful. So I pray the Lord would help us on that this Christmas season. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great love for us. And Lord, we do understand that true salvation must come from the heart. That decision must be a heart decision or it's not a true decision. And Father, I pray if there should be any here tonight who have never from their heart asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive them, to cleanse them, to save them, I pray tonight they would receive the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty in the flesh as their Savior. And I pray you'd help us as Christians. Lord, I hate to think in my own life how many things that I have done not from my heart. And that was a horrible deal, a horrible deal, because I've lost any reward for that in eternity. And Lord, I pray that you would help us everything we do. I pray we would think of that. If if this was Jesus, would I do this for him? And how would I do it for him? Grumbling inside or or would I be so thankful just for the privilege of doing this for Jesus himself? Lord, I pray that You would just transform our thoughts, our motives. May our hearts be in it with all purity and love. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.