Alright, we're going to look in our Bibles this morning. We're going to start in Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, I'm going to read a lot of scripture, but this is where we'll start off. It's a familiar verse, Isaiah 55 verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Oh, I just wonder if Isaiah knew how true those words would ring thousands of years after he wrote them down. Or somebody wrote them down that he said, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near Now seek ye the lord. That's what we're going to talk about this morning. Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 13 And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart I don't think we even have touched on what it means to seek the Lord. We talk all around it, we miss it, you know, we dance all around it, and we talk about everything associated with it, and we talk about all the results of it, or the neglect of it, but we don't really focus in on this matter of you seeking the Lord. Seeking the Lord. It's the most important matter of life. I'm telling you this morning. It is what matters more than anything else you'll ever do in your whole entire life. Every breath you take, as long as you live on this earth, I don't care what you say, I don't care what you do, what you accomplish, what you gain in this world. Nothing is gonna matter more than this matter right here. Whether you, you, I'm not talking about all of you, all of us together, I'm talking about you personally. If you truly seek the Lord, seek to know the Lord, seek after the Lord, seek God's face, We're talking about something here that's different than what is mostly talked about in church. Acts 17 and verse 27, it's Old Testament back there, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Well, here you go, here's Paul preaching in the New Testament. And he said this, and that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. This is Paul preaching to a crowd of pagans Telling them that this is what matters in life. And this is what God has worked toward it and said to everybody This is the main word that God has for everybody that's ever lived seek after God Seek the Lord you ain't gonna know him any other way. You're gonna have to seek and I thought about this this week and you know I mentioned this before but back years ago we had a track that everybody had and we passed them out everywhere and it said on the front of the track it said what to do to go to hell and when you open the track it was blank so the message was don't do anything just keep doing like you're doing and you'll go to hell and now have you noticed that that is the gospel message now Instead of doing, seeking the Lord, now it's do nothing. You just sit and wait. If you're one of God's, you're gonna find the way. He'll find you. You don't have to find him. What's this about then? What's all the other places in the word of God about? When it over and over and over, seek you the Lord. I couldn't even get them all on paper here this morning to read to you out of the word of God. Seek the Lord. Over and over and over. Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12, sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and reign righteousness upon you. So the Bible is full. It's an instruction book from God full of instructions about what we're supposed to do. And the number one thing is seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Oh, there's other verses I could read all down through here and it's just blossomed into something that won't fit in the time that we have here this morning. But I'll say this, seeking the Lord, I'll just skip some verses there and we'll go on. Seeking the Lord is not the same thing as turning over a new leaf or getting religion. or rededicating your life, or keeping the commandments, or getting in church. Seeking the Lord is not about those things. It's not about getting baptized. It's not about getting your life straightened out or kicking bad habits or self-denial. It's not about that, although those things are important. And you're not going to find God as long as you ignore all of those matters. You throw all that in the trash and think you've found God, you are deceived in your heart. It all comes as a package. When you find God, you find righteousness. When you find God, you find light. When you find God, you find wisdom and understanding because that's where it's at. It's in God. And He'll direct you right to His Word to walk in this world. And so, the right way has always been the right way. And this new way is the wrong way that says they found God, but they haven't found righteousness. There's a generation that appear in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. And that's the generation we're living in. You seek God. It's to seek the Lord is to seek God Himself in your mind and heart and to seek to know the reality of His being in your soul. To walk with God, to know God's presence. Seek the Lord, seek His face. We're not talking about changing your ways. We're not talking about all the rest of it. Seek God. If you seek God and you find Him, you got to seek Him with an honest heart or you're not going to find the right God. There's plenty of gods that'll present themselves to you as God if you won't be honest in your heart about God and about yourself. To seek the Lord is to find the personal closeness and interaction with God and your soul that changes the perception of everything. That's what seeking after God is about. There's very few people I've known in my life that I really believe sought the Lord. That's startling to me. It's a little bit scary to me because when I realized the reality of this, if this is true and it is true, then most people are in big trouble with their soul because they're not seeking God, never have sought God, ain't going to seek God. in their life. They're going to go on pretending to be religious and going to church or not going to church and claiming to know God. They're going to keep on in their deception and they're going to die and go to hell. That's going to be the end of it. You must seek the Lord. It must be a thing in your life. I'm talking about every day of your life. I'm talking about to seek the Lord is to strive to find God in every moment, in every place, in every thought, in everything you do, everywhere you go and everyone you're around. You got to seek God. You got to look for God. You got to bring God into the equation. You got to consider Him present. instead of absent. You can't just check out with God when you walk out these doors today and think you're all right. You're not all right if you just check out with God and your mind just flips and it goes right back to the daily life and the cares of life and the world and everything you're doing and all you want to do and all the things you need and gotta have and what you're going to do tomorrow and plans for. If you just flip when you go out the door, And the only thing you remember God is when you come back in the next time. There ain't no way. You ain't got no hope of heaven. You ain't got no hope of eternity, I'm telling you. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. You got to seek Him. You got to seek Him every day. You got to seek Him every moment. You got to look for Him everywhere and in everything and in every situation. Instead of just living in the realm of your own mind and thoughts and imaginations, God has got to be a reality in your life. To seek the Lord is to strive to walk with God and to have the mind of Christ. That is what seeking God is about. It's about having His mind. Looking at the world through His eyes. Looking at the world with His heart. Looking at the world, knowing the full view of things, like He does, and like He's told us, and like He will reveal it as a reality to us if we'll just seek His face. To seek the Lord requires that we forsake the world, because you'll not find God listening to the voices of the world. You're not going to find Him that way. The worldly wise people are not going to point you to God. They're going to point you away from God. All of them will, because they are not of God. They're under the devil's control. I don't care how clean and squeaky and righteous and even religious they appear. They're going to point you away from this matter right here. They're going to get you to join their movement, to give money to their cause, to build on their things. I've never been a church builder, and maybe to a fault, as you can look around and see. But what I've always tried to get people to do is to seek after God, because that's what matters. To seek the Lord requires that we forsake the world. We're not going to find Him out there. And that's why that very few seek the Lord. And the matter is only a faraway dream and a faint desire that crosses their mind occasionally. As I'm talking about this this morning, your mind's focused on what I'm saying, and you're hearing it, and you're thinking, that's right, but what are you going to do about it? When you walk out of here tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it when you get around ungodly people and the atmosphere's changed and it's not church and you're not around people that feel like this too? Are you gonna just forget about it? Are you gonna seek the Lord at home this week? In your business this week? Whatever you do in your private time, in that secret place of your mind, are you gonna seek God's face? Are you gonna try to know what it is to walk with God? To really know God speaking to your heart, touching you, comforting you, strengthening you? Do you ever strive to find that for yourself? Are you satisfied just to sit here and listen to somebody else once in a great while tell you about their experience with it? Don't do that. You're gonna miss it all. You gotta seek God. Every one of you, these children, if they don't come to a place in their life where they seek God for themselves, they ain't never gonna find Him. They ain't never gonna find Him. If we don't find God, it's because we didn't seek Him. And that's as simple as it is right there. If we go through this life, fiddling around, like I've been talking about here, wasting our days and our months and our years, messing around in this world and just spinning our wheels and just living in the drama and living in the vanity of this world, and then we die. Without finding God, it's our fault. It ain't God's fault. Draw nigh to God. James said in chapter 4 verse 8, and what happens? He'll draw nigh to you. All you got to do is try. That's all you got to do is try. I'm probably blowing this. It's hound up back there. But you gotta try. If you don't try, you don't find Him. And it's your fault. It's nobody else's fault. It ain't the preacher's fault. It ain't your parent's fault. It ain't your hard luck in life's fault. It's your fault. Because God is very near. Call upon Him while He is near. Seek the Lord while he may be found. God's promise is that if we seek Him, we'll find Him. God doesn't hide from people who are seeking Him. Jesus said in Luke chapter 11 and verse 10, For every one that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. Jesus said that. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Jesus said, you seek, you'll find. It's my promise to you. You come looking for me and I'll be looking for you. The prodigal didn't make it home before his father ran to meet him. And it's that way in this matter. If you miss heaven, it's your fault. You're gonna stand guilty before God. God makes himself easy to find for those who seek him. And so not knowing God is no fault of God, but of ourselves. And you'll hear, you'll bear the guilt when you finally stand before him to be judged. You're gonna bear the guilt because you did not even try. You didn't even try. I went to church. I prayed and God didn't answer my prayer. You prayed amiss that you might consume it upon your lust. You prayed selfishly. You wanted your way. You wouldn't trust God. You wouldn't leave it in His hands. You ain't gonna find God that way. He's God, Almighty God. He owns everything. He made everything. It is His and He does right by everyone always in the whole scheme of things. And you got to trust Him because you and I are nobody. We're nothing. in His sight. Why would He even be mindful of us? Why would He even want us to seek Him? What good are we to Him? Why does He need us? And yet He does. He wants us. He loves us. He desires us. And all He asks is, seek me. Talk to me. Come see me. You will be without excuse because you wasted and threw away all the days and hours and months and years you had to seek Him. And you did not. I mean, if you seek Him, you'll find how long does it take? How long does it take? Do you need years and years and years to seek the Lord? Is anybody going to stand before God and say, Lord, you just didn't give me enough time? No. Everybody has a lifetime. Seek the Lord and we spend it on ourselves. Having fun and chasing dreams and rainbows and vain things that don't matter. You might have been religious. You might have been faithful to church. You might have believed all the right doctrine and had all and done all you knew to do. But you did not seek after God himself and you walked in darkness doing all those things. Well, you know, we need to realize this this morning that that's where most people are going to find themselves when we stand before God. They're going to find themselves standing there thinking, oh, no. And they're going to hear these words. Depart from me, you that work iniquity, for I never knew you. You never sought me. How did he not know him? They never sought him. They never sought his face. They lived their life every day, every hour, every month, every year of their life, they lived it seeking their own, seeking their fun, their pleasure. All that's in the world, what? Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. That's it. It's what you lived your life doing. You didn't spend any time. You wouldn't quit that stuff long enough to just get alone somewhere and pray and seek God's face. To read his word and study his word that you might know and understand. People said, and they say, well, I would believe, but I don't understand. You won't even try. You won't seek to know. You won't come to church to know. You won't read the Bible to know. You want somebody to give it to you in a meme or give it to you in a song, but you won't strive to enter in like Jesus said was necessary. And then imagine somehow that you're going to be welcomed with God with open arms and that heaven's just your destination regardless of what you do. Lord have mercy. Anybody could know anything about this Bible and even entertain the thought that that kind of nonsense is true is beyond me. The devil has to be involved in it to blind their minds so darkly as that. Revival is nothing more than a renewed seeking of the Lord. And it only happens to an individual person. Revival, revival, revival. Talk about revivals. And they're having revivals in these colleges with homosexuals leading the services and everything else. And everybody there dressed ungodly and living ungodly and they pray and have revivals? What in the world are you talking about? A revival is nothing but a renewing of your seeking God's face, and it happens in your own heart and mine, in an individual. I can have revival in my soul, no matter what you do, what's going on in the world around us. I can seek God. I can seek God's face. And I can fellowship with God and I can walk with God and I can know God's presence in my life for real. Not just pretend. All the big movements and things people call revivals are just temporary spasms of excitement and enthusiasm that come mostly from pride and they're about emotion and money and have nothing to do with seeking God. I'll just say you're against everything. I'm against every lie the devil ever told or anybody else. And it's a lie to say it's a revival when God ain't within a thousand light years of that place. Deceive people to think that's what we need, that's what we need. No, that ain't what we need. We need God, the real God. We need the holy God, the almighty God. That's what we need to see. When I see them falling down before Him and worshiping Him and their lives reflected, then I'll stop and take notice. As long as all that nonsense is going on, I ain't believing none of it, it ain't real. Any revival or working of God begins when someone truly seeks after God Himself. And others are moved to do the same. All the rest is complete vanity. The only thing that'll help you is to see somebody really seeking after God. That's gonna encourage you to seek after God. You want your children to seek after God, then you seek after God. That gives them a little hope. That shines a light before them that they'll never see anywhere else. It's the only thing that'll help them. Absolutely, the most important matter in your life and mine is that we seek God. Why? And how does it make such a difference? Sometimes my notes are a hindrance to me, because my heart's way fuller than these notes. It makes all the difference to seek the Lord, because I need the Lord. I do. I don't know how people live without Him. I really don't. The devil comes to me every day and tells me, I'm a failure and I've wasted my life. Does he ever do that to you? I got a hunch, I've kind of figured this thing out. He does that to everybody. Not just me. He's a liar. He's a tormentor. He's constantly slipping in and saying, just look around. And then tell me how good God is, and tell me what all God's done for you. I have plenty of people who think the same thing, you know, even of my own family. I have people that think that, just like the devil. That's why I'm so concerned about their souls. And I have precious, I have precious little tangible evidence to show that they're wrong. That's the way life is. And that's the way, you know, I figured this out. It's not just me. I can't just curl off in the corner and say, oh, poor me. I've got a trial that's worse than anybody else's. No, I figured this out. Everybody has this. This is the devil's M.O. That's the way it works. And furthermore, this is the way it works. When you walk with God in an ungodly world, this is the way it's gonna be. Jesus warned us, he said, in this world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I'll overcome the world. As long as you stick close to me, you'll be all right. And we just won't take that, his word for it. We just keep trying to fight it on our own. We keep trying to scrap up ourselves some help, some way. The only comfort, why I seek after God? Well, because the only comfort and assurance I have comes from the Lord Himself. If I did not have that, I would be of all men most miserable. Because I would only have hope in this life, you see. That's in 1 Corinthians 15, 19. If a man have a hope only in this world, he's of all men most miserable. No, my hope is in God. And it's not just a thing that I wish and hope for and think and dream about and imagine. It's real. The Lord comes to me. Here's what I know. When I seek the Lord, I find the comfort that He alone can give. When I seek the Lord, I find comfort because I find God. When I seek Him, He gives me comfort. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Now that little song, that little children's song, they say, didn't hang on for so long and didn't take such a hold. You know, I've read different missionary stories and everything else all around, and just things that where people have studied this and done it and practiced it and experienced it. They say that when you give an adult congregation a chance to pick a hymn, that's the most picked hymn by adults, not children. Jesus loves me, this I know. Well, there's a reason for that. He walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me that I am his own. Now who wrote that? I don't know who wrote it, but I didn't look, but whoever wrote it, learned that from what I'm talking about here this morning. They sought after God. And they found that to be true. They found that if you seek Him, you do find Him. And you find Him in a real way. He comforts you. When I seek the Lord, I find strength to live and to endure all things, to persevere in the face of all adversity and persecution and hardships and troubles of life and disappointments in people and in things of life. I find strength when I go to the Lord. Because there, my vision just gets all cleared up. And I get to see what this really, you know, compare this to eternity, compare this to what lies ahead. What is this? Why should I grieve so over this? Why should I let this defeat me completely? The only way I'm gonna have that attitude is when I get in the presence of the Lord. If 1 Chronicles 16.11 says, seek the Lord and His strength. Seek the Lord and His strength. That's what I do. And seek His face continually. Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek His face continually. Seek His face continually. Pray without ceasing. I don't mean just pray when you eat. Say that little pre-programmed prayer. Just pray when you come to church. Pray for the offering. Pray for when we dismiss. Pray when the service begins. You know, pray before you go to bed. No pray without ceasing. How you gonna do that? Well, God's gotta be an ever-present presence in your life. in your walk, in your daily activity. Say, I just can't do that. Why can't you do it? Because we just ain't in the habit of it, that's why. We're in the habit of just immersing ourselves in the world and in life here and all the troubles and struggles we have and in all the drama of other people and their troubles and struggles and their conflicts and their mouths are running and we just stay all in that. Where is God in that? Where is God in that? And if you get God in that, what's all that gonna do? It's gonna go away. You're not gonna, you're gonna get out of that like you'd try to be getting out of a septic tank if you fell through the hole in it, over your head. When I seek the Lord, I can understand him. Every other way to try to understand is vanity. Every other way to try to understand is vanity. When I seek the Lord, I get understanding. Bible said in Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 5, evil men understand not judgment, but they that seek the Lord understand all things. Now you can say, that ain't right. I can understand. No, you don't. If you don't seek the Lord, you don't understand. Evil men understand not judgment. That's why people get mad if I condemn something, if I say condemning words about something like the revival deal while I go. You got no right, you got no right. You don't understand. You seek God and you get in his presence and you will understand. God and that don't go together. You ever been in God's presence? You ever been close enough to him to understand who he is? and who you are ever in your life, have you? When I seek the Lord, I see myself as I am and God as He is. I didn't write the scripture down, but in Isaiah chapter 6, you know, in the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. And then what did He say? I mean, He said some other things there, but then He saw the Lord high and lifted up. And what did he say about himself? He said, I'm a, woe is me. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I'm undone. Isaiah, the prophet said that about himself. When he really got in the presence of God, seek the Lord, seek His face. You do that, you're gonna see Him as He is as much as is possible for us through a glass darkly and only knowing in part we're gonna see Him. That's enough to put us in our place, I guarantee you. We'll see ourselves as we are. He's so big and I'm so small. We look at the heavens declare the glory of God. We can look up in the sky at night and we can see to where we don't even know the end of it. And the heavens declare the glory of God. He made the stars also. And we, until we get in that kind of a presence where we just begin to just get a glimpse of how big He is, we don't realize how small we are. He is so pure, and I am so defiled. I live in this septic tank of the universe, and the stink of it is all over me. That's what you'll feel like in the presence of God. It's all over us, no matter what. No matter what we do, it's all over us. We see so much and we hear so much and we know so much from living here so long that it's a stench to us when we get close to God to realize how pure He is and how defiled I am. He's so clean and I'm so dirty. He is so benevolent and I'm so selfish. We think ourselves benevolent because we give. And even when we do, and even in the best of us, when we would give the last dime we had to somebody in need, We still can't compare to God who gives and gives and gives to everyone, even to the kind and the evil, even to the unjust and the just, He gives alike. He's kind to the evil and the unthankful. He's benevolent. And I'm so selfish, I don't need someone to tell me what's wrong with me when I stand in the presence of God. I already know. That's why when you preach to people and you preach against sin and wrong things and they buck up at you, I know they're not seeking God's face. When you seek God's face, it wouldn't offend you at all. You'd say, preach it, preacher. Tell them again. You're right. I've been there. I know what's wrong. If you're in the presence of God, a holy God, you'll know what's wrong and what's right. And nobody will have to beat you up with it all the time. Nobody will have to be kicking and pushing and dragging and pulling you to get you to church, to get you to do right, to get you to leave the evil in this world alone. You need God. You get close to God, all that other stuff, it'll work out. The Spirit of God will teach you in your life. You'll know instantly just like Isaiah did. I don't need someone to tell me what's right and wrong concerning morality. I know. Keep me in the presence of a holy God and not know when things are dirty and wrong. I don't need somebody to tell me what worldliness is and that it is against God. If I'm close to God, if I'm walking with God, I can tell the difference between what's of the world and what's of God. How come people can't tell? In the churches, how come people can't tell what's worldly? Why is that an offensive term nowadays? Why can't we even use it? To describe somebody as worldly is not even, it doesn't even carry any weight anymore because who cares? Everybody's worldly. They dress like the world, they talk like the world, they use the world's language, the world's profanity, everything, the world's philosophies, and they're all corrupt and wrong. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Psalm 139 verse 5 through 6 says this. This is one of my favorite places in the Bible, because this whole chapter talks about this. But he says here in verse 5, Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Now why did that happen? This is Psalm of David. Why did that happen? Why? How? Because he sought God. And this is what God did for him. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. There's the thing, and that's what he says here. He said, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. That God has set me before and behind. That God's around me. That God protects me. That God watches after me. That God sees where I'm going and He knows where I've been. And He knows where I'm at right now. God is watching me. God hears my voice. God knows my thoughts afar off. This chapter says that. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Do you know that this morning? Are you conscious of that this morning? As you live your life tomorrow, are you going to be conscious of that? At any given moment, can you rejoice in the knowledge that God He's near, he's close all the time. We have, you know, we grieve because we say, we don't have services where God really works in the people's hearts anymore, where God visits. Well, I think we've been all wrong about that. We just think that if we're having a real emotional service, that was God visiting. Well, I don't know. I ain't criticizing and I ain't gonna try to figure everything out. None past all that. Seeking God is the most important thing. And God works in people's hearts. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me, to know God's hand is upon me. You know what it feels like when somebody has their hand on you? What do we do when we walk up and put our hand on somebody's shoulder? What do we do? Like at a funeral, like we've been to funerals this week. What do you do? How do you comfort? You mentioned in Sunday school, what do you say? Well, ain't much to say. So what do we do? We try to touch. We either hold their hand, we put our hand on their hand, or we put our hand on their shoulder, or something. We try to touch. He's got his hand on me. The comfort that you derive from that. Have you ever felt that? I have. There was a time one time when I thought the world was, it was over. I thought it was the end. I really did. It looked like it. Sure did look like it. And I was crying and praying and laying on the ground. And to this day, I can just still feel it. It was just like somebody put their hand on my shoulder. He said, well, you're just being weird. I don't care what you think. It didn't make me believe in spooking boogers. I didn't turn to charismatic. It was God just gave me strength. I don't know how he did it. I don't know what it was. I set up and looked because I thought somebody had snuck up on me and found me. And it wasn't nobody there. and laid thine hand upon me." Well, he must have felt the same thing. Psalm 105 verse 3, glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. You know who's gonna rejoice? The people who seek the Lord. It's a promise. It's like, you know, everybody thinks it's the end of the rainbow. There's a gold pot and there's a leprechaun there. And boy, there's always a chasing rainbows. There's always something to look for somewhere. Out in the old west, they were always looking for that gold that was hidden out there. Something to seek for, something to reach for. And here it is, the eternal treasure, the eternal reward. And you can have it right now by just seeking the Lord and seeking His face. But so it all comes down to this. What are you going to do about it? You're going to just keep on living like you're living, playing your games, having your fun, living your vain life, getting, losing, getting again, gaining, losing, you know, battling this life. And that's what it's all about. And that's where your mind stays in all the time. Are you going to see God? When we come to the end of our life, it's going to be the only thing that matters. Whether you sought the Lord in your life. Believe me, this thing gets, as you get closer to the end, it gets, the picture starts getting clearer too. Yeah, I'm telling you, this is why. You know, I remember old people that went before me. I remember the look in their eyes. And now, I've not understood until recently. what they were thinking. Some of them said what they were thinking, some of them tried to say what they were thinking, some of them didn't say nothing. But I remember what they said, what they looked like, and now I know, now I know. The picture began to make sense. It all came together much more clearly for him. And I'm telling you, when you're dying, the only thing that's going to matter. I've watched a lot of people die. I've seen, I went to funeral after funeral after funeral. And I've been in church for 45 years plus. And I've watched a lot of people that I went to church with, Barry. We talked about it on the way up there the other day. I said, here we go to another funeral in this same place. How many more are we gonna go to? And I can tell you, I remember all of them. And I remember the ones that were hard. And I remember the ones that were easy. When we come to the end of our life, it'll be the only thing that matters. All my religion and my works and the things that I've comforted my heart with that are part of this world will not amount to any comfort or help to me at all. It just won't. it'll be a burden to me. If that's what I've lived my life for, and that's what I've been concerned for, and that's what I gave my heart to, that's where my heart was, that's where my treasure was, then death's gonna be a mighty hard experience for me and my family. But if I've sought the Lord, let me tell you something, if I've consistently sought the Lord's face, and I've lived my life seeking after God, Seeking after God, not trying to promote a movement or some code of conduct or something like that. If I haven't lived my life trying to prove how smart I am or how much I know about the Bible, if I've lived my life seeking after God, my death is going to be a blessing. And I'll tell you something else. You can call me dead, but I ain't dead. because I'm going to be yet speaking and you'll never forget. I told somebody the other day about somebody we were talking about like that. I said, they're not really dead, are they? You hear them every day. You hear their words in your heart and your mind. You remember, you can hear the sound of their voice. So they're not really dead. That's what seeking after God will get for you. You won't be buried in a hole and everybody forgets you ever lived. Seek after God. It's the only way. You don't leave anything. A good man leaving an inheritance for his children, what in the world you think that's talking about? You think God says that, oh, a good man's gonna leave a lot of money for his kids and property, or else he ain't a good man. You think God's got that worldly opinion? No, God's talking about something far greater than that. I read a thing the other day and it was talking about when you die and your funeral and that to get rid of all your stuff and all that and it's all over and everybody at home forgets about you after a few months and they go on about their life, they quit crying and start laughing again and then your life really begins. Your life, what it really amounts to. Eternity! Then what do you got? I gotta hurry. Not late, but we're just, we're right on time here. If we've sought the Lord in our life, we'll find Him present in death. Psalm 23 verse 4. Y'all know this verse. We all know this Psalm. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. We know that verse, don't we? Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. He's going to be with him. No amount of religious or self-deceit will suffice when the moment of death approaches. The only thing that's going to comfort you is that you have sought God, you know Him, you feel His hand upon you, and it's just a matter, you know, I called last week over to Roger's house. I said, well, I heard things ain't so good. And she said, well, no, they're not. But she was just as upbeat as she could be. And the first thing she told me, she said, Roger is happy. He's excited. He's talking about going to heaven and seeing all the people that went on before. She said, he's anxious. I said, hallelujah. I said, ain't that a comfort? Oh, yes. You going to die that way? You're not if you don't seek the Lord. If you ain't got something real to hang your hat on, you can play your games, you can talk your talk, and you can be your religious self, and you can have your little religious things that you connect yourself to and identify yourself with. But I'm telling ya, when it comes down to the bottom line, if you haven't sought God with an honest heart and found Him, you're not gonna die well. 2 Chronicles 7, 14. This is the verse everybody knows. If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and what? Seek my face. Seek my face. Seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. What does everybody, when they quote that verse, where do they zero in on? If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray. Cut her off right there. Nope. You gotta seek his face. That's what he said. Seek his face and turn from your wicked ways. You pray. You seek his face. You turn from his wicked ways. Your wicked ways. And then what's he gonna do? He's gonna hear from heaven. That's how you find him. You seek him, you find him. And that's how it happens. Psalm 24 verse 1 through 6. Let me read this real quick. Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? All right, here's the great question. Who's going to heaven? Who's going to live with God forever? Or who shall stand in his holy place? I remember reading this to my mother as she was dying and I watched her lips as she mouthed the words as I read them, she knew them. Who's going to stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, or sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek his face, or seek thy face. See, that's the generation, the ones who seek his face. Who's going? Those are Seeky's petties. You better not believe that little old track. Well, you better believe the first track. Yeah. You do nothing. You're going to hell. You sit on your haunches. You be lazy in your spiritual consciousness. Just be lazy. Believe the lies that you don't do anything. You don't believe, you don't repent, you don't seek God, none of that, you know. That's what that other doctrine teaches, see. You don't seek God because you can't. You don't repent because you can't. You don't believe because you can't. So don't do nothing. You're gonna bust hell wide open. Seek the Lord while he may be found. You ain't gonna find him. You seek him, you'll find him. Psalm 27 verse 7 and 8. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. All right, I've said it a hundred times this morning probably. Seek the Lord, seek his face. Has God said it to you anytime this morning? Well, the psalmist said, David said, you said to me, Lord, seek my face. And my heart said, I'll, thy face will I seek. I'll do it. The prodigal said, I will arise and go to my father. And he didn't just sit there and say it and then sit there some more. I will arise and go to my father. He got up and went to his father. Now you know to seek the Lord's face. So you gonna do it or not? Well you say, well yes I will seek his face, I'm going to. Well then do it! Or saying it in your heart means nothing. One more verse, Amos 5 verse 4, For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live. Seek ye Me and ye shall live. What's the alternative? To stay on your present course and die without Him. Die without Him. Let's stand. Let's stand. I'll quit. I'm gonna pray for you this week that you seek the Lord in your life, that you seek to walk with God. You know, if we were seeking the Lord, we'd know what to do in situations like that one when you talked about Seth and Sunday school, sitting on the curb there, screaming and crying. Things like that always trouble me because I don't know what to do. If I was walking close enough to God, I'd know what to do. We went in the, Hospital at Cape here last year went over there for some tests and stuff And when we got out of the car to go up to there we had to walk past the emergency Entrance and all of that and there's a woman out there just crying and weeping and wailing Setting on the curb outside the emergency room You know If I was walking with God close enough But I had my mind on this test and all that's going on and what they're gonna find and blah blah blah and and then blah here it is in your face and not prepared. I kicked myself. I told her, I said, I'm, it just makes me so ashamed and it troubles me because I'm not ready. You know, you could walk up to somebody like that if you're really walking with God and you could just say, dear lady, I don't know what's troubling you, but let me pray for you. Be still Jacob, be still. Now, you know, I can pray for you and just start praying. God, I don't know what is this lady's trouble and what's troubling her soul so much, but please help her. Couldn't we do something like that? But we're never that spiritual, are we? That's what I'm talking about this morning. And I'm including me in the bunch here. Let's seek the Lord. Let's seek his face. Will you? Will you seek God's face? Will you try to seek God's face? Will you? Answer me, tell me, will you? So a lot of you ain't gonna do it, no matter what. Pastor, can I share something? Yes, sir. I came here today, it's probably my second time here, and he wanted us to turn to Isaiah 55, Turn there. It's the only verse that I have underlined in the whole book of Isaiah. Elizabeth. The Lord is speaking to me. Yeah. It's important. Yes. We never seek enough. No. Until the day we die, we need to seek God. Yes. Amen. And He will be there for us. Yes, sir. I appreciate you sharing that today. Amen. Amen. Thank you. It's just, God just puts things on my heart once in a while, I guess. It just makes it. And it's for me. I hope you get something out of it, too. I hope you get some help out of it. Because I really believe it's the truth and it's what we need today. Seek the Lord and seek His face. Seek to know Him, seek to walk with Him. I still haven't got it across like I want to get it across. It's just not, I'm not reaching like I want to get to, to give the meaning of this to you. I've known people through the years. Most of them, all of them, let me just put it that way, let me rephrase that, all of them were old men who walked with God. They had a different conversation. I've been around people that you cannot, I've been around people you can talk hunting, fishing, you can talk work, you can talk sports, anything, and they'll just talk your leg off. And you'll never get around to a spiritual conversation. I've been around other people that you cannot talk none of that nonsense with them. I mean, you can talk a little bit, but I mean, we're going to talk about the Lord. She said, what is there to talk about the Lord? Yeah, well, read the Song of Solomon. That's what they asked her. They said, what is so special about your beloved above all the other beloved? She said, well, just sit still and I'll tell you. He's the fairest of them all. And she went on to describe every detail about him. If you ain't got nothing good to say about the Lord, it's because you ain't been with him. You ain't been walking with him. I'm gonna quit. I gotta stop. But please remember and take this to heart and do something in your life about it. Father, thank you, Lord, for the service and thank you for helping us. In spite of the devil's attempts to throw it all in a ringer, Lord, I thank you for helping us this morning. Bless the Word of God. I believe the truth has been preached here this morning, and I pray that you would, and I believe you've put your stamp on it, and you've anointed it, and I pray that it accomplish what you sent it for here this morning, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. Y'all are dismissed.