What you've gotten there will all stand if you're able to. We'll stand, we'll read one verse, we'll pray, and we'll ask our God for his help. Good to see so many in the house of God this morning. Look at the Bible. Feels good, don't it? Amen. Look what the Bible says in Psalm 42 and verse number one. God's word says, as the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." That's what I'm talking about, a simple little thought this morning, re-igniting our passion for Christ. Re-igniting our passion for Christ. Now let's go ahead and pray. Father, I thank you, Lord, for your precious word. I also want to thank you, first of all, for the songs that were sung this morning, Lord, how they spoke to our hearts by the Spirit of God. Thank you, Lord, for those who did respond and just to worship you, exalt your name, and for that God we want to say thank you. And I do pray God that now you take your precious word, let it become alive to us, feed our souls. I pray God to breathe upon us, I pray God to stir us on the inside, and Lord draw us a little bit closer. And also I pray God for sunrise on 29th Avenue as we both are trying to make some decisions, and we're seeking your will and for your wisdom. And I do pray God to speak to all of our hearts, And God, help us to be of one mindset and follow only the will of God, and that Father will sanctify it. We know, God, that when that takes place, all will be well. And so we praise you for that. Now we ask God once again, take the word of God, help somebody that might be struggling, somebody that might be battling in their mind, their heart, their soul, somebody's family that might be in disarray, or perhaps disturbed, distraught, dismantled. But I pray God that by dynamic power of the Spirit of God, I pray that you'll breathe upon us and give us strength for the journey. And may God that be one amongst us, or several, or those who might be watching via the internet, that may not be saved, but look on board again, that this be the day they receive Jesus as their Lord, Savior, Yes, sir, and King, that God will praise you. Well, that's it for now. If I left anything out, please, sir, meet that great need as well. For it's in your sons that we pray, not a weak Jesus, but mighty Jesus. Amen. Amen. Maybe you see that. Reigniting our passion for Christ. This is a very familiar song, familiar verse, but this is just our springboard to get us to where we're headed to. But you notice what the psalmist says, he just asked a heart, or asked a dear, panteth at the water, but watch this now, he says, so panteth my soul at thee, O God. That word here, panteth, in this verse, it means to long for or to cry. And many of us have been going through the situation the last several months, in our country. No doubt many have had their strength depleted. Maybe spiritually got discouraged. Perhaps many have even wondered what's going to happen next. Is the world coming to an end? A lot of these things can sap us of our strength in our inner man. But as we look here at what the psalmist says, there's something about it though. I'm panicking, but I'm longing for some help. Let me ask the question this morning, are we longing for a special touch from God this morning? If we long for that special touch, God will give us that special touch. Now, that word reigniting here in this verse that we've chosen for the title of the message, the word reign is a prefix used with a meaning which means again, or again and again, which indicates repetitiveness. In other words, when you are reigniting something, a lot of times you want to continue to reignite it. Many of us have stoves. You might have an electric one, but many of us still have the pilot with the gas. And sometimes with ours, when you turn it on, It won't come on all the way, so sometimes you may have to get the lighter to put on there. But then sometimes it just needs to be wiped off. And then you wipe off that little piece in there, and then you hit it. And the fire comes up, it's been reignited. Now, I wonder how many of us this morning need to be reignited in our passion. That word ignited here means to be set on fire. The word passion is a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything, such as passion for music. Many of us have certain passions that we have. Let me ask you the question though, do we have a passion for Christ? So we have a hungering for the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of us remember when you first got saved, and man, you was excited, you was pumped, you was hungry to serve Jesus. I mean, you was telling everybody what had happened to you, how you got saved, how you got born again. But somewhere along the line, sometimes we lose that passion, we lose that hunger, we lose that desire. You know what? We have a God that wants to reignite that passion within us again. Me and my wife, we've been losing weight, and I've lost 20 pounds. Tomorrow will be six weeks, and I tell you what, it's watching my calories. has helped me to not eat certain things. And I find myself going, well, how many calories have I got in there? I'm like, boy, I'm going to waste my calories on that. But nonetheless, I'll never forget yesterday, I went into Fantino's over here on Pine Avenue, had just left working out, had burned a lot of calories. And I walked in the door, and the devil, it was the devil, the devil had a raspberry cream cheese thick cream cheese cake sitting right there in the middle waiting for me. I saw it and like my grandmother would say, I said, the devil does a lot. I'm not going to get that. And by God's grace and his mercy, his power, and his provision, I walked right by there with a little extra pace going. But I got by there and I did that. The folks going, did you get it? Did you get it? No, I did not eat it. I didn't touch it. I didn't even go back and just look at it some more. I just took a picture and sent it to y'all so y'all could go in and get one. But nonetheless, while a lot of time went down, back before I started losing weight though, $6.99. It's $6.99 for that whole cake. You know, most times they're $10.99, $17.99. I probably got three, took two home, and ate two, went to the church. And I would've tore that thing up. Nobody would've knew, but I'd probably confess it on Sunday. But nonetheless, though, I like ribs. Anybody that knows me knows I like Big Daddy's. I like rib tips. I like hot legs with hot barbecue sauce on it. I mean, those are passions of mine. But you know what? Since I've been losing weight, my passion has changed, and I'm looking more forward. Remember that, but I'm looking forward to the results. I feel a little bit lighter and I can move a little bit better than what I was before. Well, listen, when you and I have our passion reignited for Christ, think about it. Man, you want, you have it, can't help it. You'll want to tell somebody about what God has done for you. You want to tell somebody how God has changed your life, how God can change their life. And brothers and sisters, maybe we are here today, this morning, and those that are watching, and we might be saying to ourselves, yes, I need to be reignited. I need my passion reignited. But now here's the next question, how? A lot of times, we'll say, what you need But we don't say how to get it. I mean, we'll do it to a doctor and say, hey, doctor, I'm sick. He'll take you out and say, yep, you're sick. You need help. OK? I'll see you next time you come. No! Come on. What's the remedy? What's the prescription? What's the solution? And I want to give us five ways, or five things I believe that can help us to have our passion reignited for Christ. The first thing I want to look at is this. Now, this is going to hurt a little bit. is something called examination. Nobody likes examinations. Some of us, when we was in school, you'd have to have a physical examination. Well, if you and I want to have that passion reignited, there needs to be, number one, an examination. I want you to go with me over to Psalm 139 and look at verse number 23. Psalm 139 and verse number 23. Man, it's hard. I mean, it's like in the morning when you get up and you go and look in your mirror and you know what it's going to look like because you've been asleep all night. But sometimes you're hoping it looks a lot better. But watch what it says here in Psalm 139 and look at verse 23. The Bible says that David says in this verse, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Watch it. Try me and know my thoughts. Let's pause it for a second. The word search me means to examine intimately. It means also to investigate. So what David says is, Lord, I want you to investigate me. I want you to examine me. I want you to check me out. And what do I want you to check out? He says in this verse, I want you to check out something. What is it? He says, search me O God and know my heart. Examine my inner man. Examine me on the inside. I don't want a necessarily a physical examination. I want a spiritual examination. I want you to search me to investigate. And when you investigate something, you're going to find out whether something's wrong or not. Right. I want to have many of us will confess this morning. God, I need an examination. God, I need you to investigate my heart. my inner man, my insides. Now watch what he goes on to say. He says, search me, oh God, and know my heart, and then do something else. Try me. And know my thoughts. That word try means to, now some of us don't like this word, test. Oh, I ain't coming from no test. But what does a test do? A test reveals. A test will reveal, in a natural school setting, it will reveal how much you actually know or that you learn or that you retain. Now see, when I was growing up in school, I had a good memory. I'm just going to shock some of y'all. But I actually had a very good memory. I didn't study much at all. It was rare that I took books home. But I would come to class, and right before the test would start, I'd open that book up and I'd just... And I'd go up there, man, I'd pass that test, and I'd be on my way. But you know what? If I took the test the next day, I probably would have failed. Because I didn't study, what I was doing was memorizing. It's a big difference. And brothers and sisters, there's times that we need God to test us. to find out just where we are. We can say a whole lot, but where are we exactly? Where am I exactly? And the psalmist says in this verse, he says, I want you to try me. I want you to test me and know my, oh, my thoughts. Not my thoughts. See, I know some of us think we can, but we can't. Weed each other's minds. And listen, Okay, I mean this sometimes I mean my wife we've been together for 30 plus years and I'll tell you what sometimes I'm thinking she's thinking this I'm not thinking about hugging on I've misread things I thought I thought but listen But he says right here, what I want you to do is to examine, and to try, and to test me, and to know my faults. Now, this is an interesting word here in this verse. This word, faults, here in this verse means this. It means disquieting faults. I was like, hmm. So what's disquieting mean? I looked the word of disquieting in my Webster's 1828, and the word disquieting means this. It means this. It means to disturbing the mind. depriving of rest or peace. I was like, wow. In other words, my thoughts have been disquieted. My thoughts have been disturbed. I'm not having that peace of mind. I'm not having that rest in my mind. There's something that has been tossing and toiling all night. I'm not getting the proper sleep that I need to have. Something's happening in my head. Lord, I need you to test me. Accept me. Because something's wrong. And brothers and sisters, when you and I have lost our passion for Christ, there's something wrong. And a lot of times, it's in our thoughts. It's in our minds. Your mind can go all over the place. You can be thinking things that's not even there. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Why is she looking at me like that? Mm-hmm. Listen, I had more baskets on. That's by design. Which means by design. I can't see y'all faces. Well, I can see you, but I can't see you. But as a preacher, you ask some of these preachers. They'll tell you. I mean, they'll be preaching, and they'll be looking out, and they'll be like, What did I say that they don't like? They might say, am I shaking their head? They're thinking, I just said something. I see them shaking their head. I said something that they didn't like. And you know what they could be shaking their head about? They were thinking about somewhere they was going, no, I ain't going there. But they'll be at that prison going, what did I say? After serving, everything OK, sister? Yeah. Well, I see you're shaking your head. When? Well, when I was pitching on that particular point, you shook your head like you didn't agree, maybe I said something wrong. What are you talking about? I'm sorry, what I did, I mean, please, I mean, what are you talking about? You know what, now I got some thoughts going on in my head. You know, so you're false, but you know what? We have a God that knows how to bring peace of mind. We have a God that knows how to bring stability of mind. But the thing about it is this, we should ask the Lord, hey Lord, I want you to try my thoughts. I want you to examine my thoughts. And then he said in verse 24, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Lord, there's something wrong. I want you to help me. Show me a road to take to get the victory that I need. And brothers and sisters, if you and I are going to have our passion for Christ reignited, we also have an examination. But the second thing is this, this may help us also. Secondly, every, I know this is going to sound, you've heard this before, but it's the truth. Every day in the world, no examination. But be in the Word every day. Watch what the Bible says in Psalm 1, verse 1. Look at Psalm 1, verse 1. Don't raise your hand now, but let me ask you a question. And you can ask it on the inside. Am I in the Word every day? Or am I only in the Word because I know I've got Sunday school coming up? Am I only in the Word because it's time for preaching to hear the Word of God preached? What about Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday again? Hey, every day in the Word. Watch what the Bible says. I ain't got nothing to do with this. It was in the Bible. It was here way before I got here. The Bible says in Psalm 1 verse 1. Blessed is the man that walketh, watch this, this is a big word, only three letters, that walketh not in the counsel or the advice of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. That man's gonna be happy and blessed, amen? But here's the part I wanna focus on. But his delight, His desire, his pleasure, the Bible says, is in the law of the Lord. And the Bible says, and in his law does he meditate when? Day and night. Day and night. Now, let's look at this. That word, oh, I ain't lying about the law. Hold on. The word law here also means directions and instructions. Yep. So in other words, if I meditate on the law of God, on the directions of God, on the instructions of God, day and night, something's going to happen. Because I know the instructions. But a lot of times, you know how we are. We buy something, and we're just trying to figure it out. Three hours later, man, I'm wore out. Wind direction, I want to read all that. Now, look at all that. I want to read somebody else's. Let me Google that. Let me find a video on that. We can find a video on everything right now. But even then, if you get your video, guess what you're going to have to do? Study the instructions. It's amazing how sometimes we'll leave out one little small thing. And that one small something affects the whole thing. The psalmist says that you and I should meditate in the law of God, meditate on the instructions of God, meditate on the directions of God, day and night. And this is what's going to happen. Watch it now. This is what's going to happen. The Bible says, and he shall be like a what? Tree. Glory to God. A tree planted by the rivers of water. Now most of you know what that word planted there means. It means to transplant. In other words, it was picked up and moved here. That's right. It was placed here. Now watch it. Once it's been placed, the Bible says, by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in season, his leaf also shall not wither. It won't fail. It won't fade away. Here we go. Here we go. And whatsoever. and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Whoa, I like that word prosper. Oh, that's a good word. The word prosper here also means to push forward. Brothers and sisters, sometimes you and I cannot push forward because we've been making directions. I mean, if you've never driven a stick shift, you know you're gonna have some issues. First time I bought, my first car that I bought, I was living in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the time. The first car I purchased was a Toyota Celica that was a five-speed GT, and I had never driven a stick in my life. My dad, he said, you can do it. My dad, he drove me to 51. He said, you can do it. I said, oh. And the guy that was selling the car, of course he said I could do it. You know? Oh, you can do it. Man, we went around some little empty lot building, and man, I was moving the gears. I was cutting off. And it was all this kind of stuff. They said, oh, you're doing good. I'm not doing good. But I bought the car. Now, y'all know what I'm saying now. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, where there are mountains and hills, and I'm driving on five speed. Now, some of y'all who had never driven one, you're like, well, this is a big deal. Well, number one, that baby going to roll on you if you ain't careful. I would be sitting at the light. on an incline like this, I'm sitting there. And people be all up on me like, please get by all the old men. And then I start sweating. And I'm like, the light could've changed green. And I'm like, here we go, here we go. And then it turned green and my foot didn't, my feet wouldn't hit right, and they cut off. And they might be looking to take a seat, but then I blow a horn soon. I mean, they're blowing a horn and I'm sweating this up. All this kind of stuff. Now, Jormaine, she been driving a stick shift since she was one year old. I mean, she grew up in North Carolina. So that didn't work well with me and her when we got together. Because she was like, you don't know what you're doing. I'm like, I do. I'm a man. I know what I'm doing. I'm cutting off. You ain't hitting it right. I'm like, I know what I'm hitting. And she'd get in there, and she'd be just like. I'm like, you know something wrong with these gears, man. Something ain't right with the gears thing, man. Well, you know what? I don't know what point it is. But nonetheless, though, amen. But nonetheless, amen. Instructions, amen. But I'll tell you what. But I'll tell you what, though. When I started focusing on what to do, I got better and better and better. Now, I love a stick. Ain't nothing like riding a stick, man. Woo! And then on top of that, you can push that joke away if it cut off on you. Amen. You get to push it at somebody, you know, that's no sore. Nonetheless! to push forward, to advance. What do you say, preacher? First of all, one way to reignite our passion for Christ is examination. Secondly, every day in the Word. Thirdly, early, uh-oh, I lost somebody right here. I said early, early, early. Early to prayer. And there was silence. We can't pray late into evening. Listen, let's look at our example. Go and be over to Mark chapter 1 and verse 35. Mark chapter 1 and look at verse 35. Mark 1 and verse 35. Now, the Bible says that Jesus was our example. OK? Now look what he did. It's Jesus now. It's Jesus. Come on. Watch what the Bible says in Mark 1 verse 35. And the Bible says, and in the morning, rising up. Uh-oh. You mean he didn't just lay there? Nope. rising up a great while before day. He went out, the Bible says, and departed into a solitary place to do what? Pray. And there pray. Let me ask us, are we willing to get up early to pray? I mean before the day starts, cry out to God. Get a hold of God. Ask God to bless your day, to guide you, direct you, to make sure that you make the right turns on whether or not to keep straight or whatever the case might be. God help me as I'm traveling down this road. God show me what to do. Forgive me for my sins. Clean me up on the inside. Make me a vessel that you can use for your honor and your glory. Get up early and cry out to God. And then there's another verse, I believe it's verse 5 or 17, I believe it is, where it says to pray Without ceasing. Always in her mindset to pray. Do you know what I mean? She is good for that, man. I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad. But then sometimes it's like inconvenient, you know. I'll be talking, I'm going to go to her. That's her way to get me to be quiet. Because you know, when she says I'm praying, I'm going to stop. I'm like, man, why are you telling me to pray? I just feel like I'm praying and something will hit me, I need to pray. I've been in this thing for a while. But nonetheless, praying without ceasing. Always in a mindset to pray. You know what? When you and I start asking God to examine us, when you and I are in that world every day, and then we get up early and pray and cry with God. When I say pray, I mean be transparent. I mean not to impress. That leads me to another thing. Let me show you this. Go with me over to Matthew 6 verse 5. Don't pray to be seen. Look at Matthew 6 and verse 5. Matthew 6 and verse number 5. Don't get mad at me. This is what the Bible says. Look at Matthew 6 and verse 5. The Bible says in verse 5, Matthew chapter number 6, the Bible says that Jesus said, and when thou prayest, Thou shalt not be as the hypocrite. By the word hypocrite means a person who is an actor under an assumed character. Don't be a hypocrite, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be what? Seen. Seen of who? Men. Then guess what Jesus said? Verily I said to you, guess what? They had their reward. Wait a minute, you know what that means, y'all, right? Their reward is just being seen. Their prayer meant nothing. Ain't no answers coming from that prayer, because the whole motive was wrong. The motive was to be seen again, you know? But you know, he couldn't pray, y'all. You know that man, he can't pray. They know I couldn't pray. Oh, God. The God! There's nothing wrong with praying like that, but if you're praying to be seen, it ain't no good! If it's only to be seen of men, you can use all the oratory that you want to use, but the only thing it's going to get is that, only being seen. So that's why when you do pray, be straight, and not trying to impress. Be honest! Just talk to him! I mean, you ain't got to, he know who he is, I mean, just come to him and say, Lord, I'm jacked up. From the floor up, I'm jacked up. I need help. Now, oh, God, you know, let me use a big word for the word help. I don't even know any, sorry. But nonetheless, I'm going to try. But nonetheless, listen, just be straight with God. But pray. But not only that, the fourth thing I think that will help us to remind our passion, our fourthly, is an eagerness to serve the Lord. and eagerness to serve the Lord. Remember the Bible says over in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 24. Now this is a verse that God used Master Rear to preach for him full time. But notice a part of this verse. 1 Samuel 12 and verse 24. 1 Samuel 12 and verse 24. He says here, only fear the Lord. Okay? Here we go. And serve Him in truth with all your heart. For consider how great things He hath done for you. Now let's break this down. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth. So only fear Him, but this is what I want to focus on. And serve Him in truth with all your heart, your inner man. Consider how great things He hath done for you. That's your motivation. The motivation to serve is not because the pastor asked you to. The motivation to serve is not because of what people expect of you. The motivation to serve is because when you consider how great things he has done for you. When you start serving that way, you don't need the pat on the back from nobody. But if I'm doing it for you, I'm like, I'm doing all this stuff, you know, Ain't nobody notice, you know, I mean, I mean, it's like, you know, like, like, uh, I know, um, the bodies, they clean the church up here and we got supposed to clean up the church where we're at. And, you know, they clean the church up and all that, but you know what? Nobody normally notices anything until. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't get done. That garbage was in there last week. Come on. Your hands all right? Listen, listen. But it's amazing. But now, they say they clean the church up. All the ones who clean the churches are here. And then, nobody says anything. And then what happens is, you know what? Ain't nobody noticed that I cleaned the windows. Ain't nobody noticed. I bought the new seat that I got plugged in the walls. You know what happened? You'll get discouraged. But when you're doing it for him, because of what he's done for you, it don't matter what nobody else is saying. I mean, you're happy to get out there and cut the grass. You're happy to be teaching a certain student class, or one of those students or those students. Teach the world how to teach yourself. Listen, you're excited. Listen, but we're doing it for each other. But do it for Him. I have another verse on that. Watch this. Watch this. Go with me to Colossians chapter number 3 and 23. We're almost done. We already hit third base. We hit the home base. We're in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 23. We're talking about reigniting our passion for Christ. Look what the Bible says in Colossians chapter 3 and it's dropped all the way down to verse number 23. The Bible says this in Colossians 3 verse 23. And whatsoever you do, do it what? Heartily. As to who? The Lord. The Lord. And the Bible says, and what? Not unto men. Not to men. What? He says, do it heartily. That word heartily here means out of your heart, out of your spirit, out of your soul. Do whatever you do, and you're doing it all as to the Lord, not to men, knowing that the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. Guess what? That don't just apply to church, y'all. Yep. Whatever job you and I got, do ask her to the Lord. Yeah. Yeah. One of my guys here works at Walmart. My first time going back into Walmart over on Indianapolis Boulevard was this past weekend. I had been there since March, March. I just, you know, I have to pray before I get there and pray inside, pray on the way out. You know, I haven't been, you know, but he works there. And you know how it can be at Walmart. There's a lot of crazy people going to Walmart. Amen. But you know what? He's there working. And he might be employed by Walmart, but he's really employed by the Lord. Amen. So therefore, the Lord is the one that will reward him. The Lord is the one that will bless him. And I'm going to tell you what, you can do your job a whole lot happier when you're doing it for the Lord. Amen. We've got some guys here that work for the milk company, for the bread company. And I'm going to tell you what, I mean, out there in the hot heat, I'm sure you're like, oh, I love this heat. Turn it up some more. But you know what? If he's out there working for the Lord, I'm going to get in here, I'm going to make my deliveries, I'm going to have a pleasant smile on my face, I'm going to use some encouraging words to build somebody up. Somebody might be going through a hard time. I mean, when I go out in the stores, man, I'm trying to be nice to people. You know, I mean, a mask on and all. I mean, hello, how you doing? And some people be shocked. You know, because nowadays, it's almost like, you know, you can't even speak to me, people. You're speaking too close. I'm waiting over here, over there, saying, hey. How you doing? Have a good day. God is good. Who was that? Heather. Heather, she's walking her dog the other day over in Highland. She's walking her dog, and she was just smiling. And she said a guy sat on his porch. He goes, hey. What you smiling about? And Heather said she was smiling. She's like, who, me? Yeah, what you smiling about? And then what did you say to him? I said, I didn't realize I was smiling, but Jesus has given me plenty of reasons to smile. Now watch this. So I didn't realize I was smiling, but Jesus gave me plenty of reasons to smile. And then she could not tell the rest of what he said. He goes off. You want to raise it? You want him? But on the inside, you want to say, I'd rather be one of them than one of you. Amen. I mean, you all get to her. Get to her. Why is everybody smiling? Don't be smiling. Holler, holler. Listen, you can smile, folks, in the midst of a storm, but you realize how good God has been to us. Amen. Be something. Thank God. He is awesome, man. But you know what? We're sorry. I need more women. The last thing I want you to look at is, oh, wait a minute. I want you to see, ah, that's OK. But go over here. Also, not only that, five ways to help or reignite a passion for Christ. Number one, examination. Number two, every day in the word. Number three, early to prayer. Number four, eager to serve the Lord. Then number five, exhorting each other. Yeah. Yeah. Exhorting each other. Look what the Bible says over in Hebrews chapter 10. Oh my God, I can't read chapter 10. Calm down. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 and verse number 24. The Bible says in Hebrews 10 verse 24, and let us consider one another. I'm tired of talking about other folks. Let us consider one another to provoke unto what? Love. Love, not hate. He says, consider one another to provoke, to incite. Guess what this word also means, y'all? It also means irritation. But it's in a positive sense. Because it's causing somebody to love. He says right here, to provoke unto love and the good works. Here we go. Not, don't say it, preacher, don't say it. Forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a man of some is but what? Exhorting the Bible says one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching Christ Return is coming. It's imminent. He is about to come my brothers and sisters I know the Bible says right here not forsaking the similar that were forsaking here means to abandon or to desert and He says, don't be an abandoner. Don't be a deserter. Of what? Look what he says right here. He says, don't forsake or abandon or desert the assembling of ourselves. I love word studies. The words assembling ourselves mean this, gathering together in one place. When brothers and sisters in Christ are gathering together at one place, he says, don't abandon that assembly. Don't desert that assembly. But instead he says, do this. He says, as some folks do, but insulting one another. Encouraging one another. Helping one another. Do you know that when we come together as a body of believers, that we are exhorting each other, we are encouraging each other, we are building one another up? Take the history. Take the history. What history? Go to Acts. Go to Acts, chapter number two, verse 40. Look at the early church. Don't y'all wonder sometimes why did the early church be able to withstand the persecutions that they went through. And I'm not talking about somebody going to like you. I'm talking about losing your head. I'm talking about being burned at the stake alive. And they are willing to go. We have our brothers and sisters today that are overseas, and they don't report on the news. We got our brothers and sisters overseas right now, I believe 25 just got killed the other day, that are losing their lives, but they will not retent, they will not deny the Lord Jesus Christ, but instead, brothers and sisters, they are willingly dying for the cause of Christ. All the disciples, except one, as far as we know, died a martyr's death. They gave their life for the Lord Jesus Christ, not because he was a fairy tale, They saw Him when He ascended up in the heaven, and they know that He's coming back again. Brothers and sisters, what is real on the inside of your soul, what is real in your mind, what is real in your heart, you only die for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this. The Bible says in Acts 2, and look at verse number 40. The Bible says, and with many other words, did He testify. and exhort, saying, save yourselves, save yourselves from this untoward generation. That word untoward means crooked and perverse and wicked generation. Then the Bible says, watch it, watch it, they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the Bible says, and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. But watch this, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, and what? Fellowship. Fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. They continued the fellowship. They continue, the Bible says, to break bread. They continue in God's instructions. Drop down to verse number 46, and the Bible says this, and they're continuing daily with what? One accord. Manual Bible. One accord. Not six. One accord. The word accord here, one accord, means with one mind, it means with one passion. The Bible says, and they continue daily with one accord in the what? Temple. The word temple means a sacred place. And breaking bread from house to house, and they eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. the word gladness y'all. When I say gladness like you were glad. The word gladness here means extreme joy. It was extreme. Y'all ever say am I extremely joyful? I mean it's like what? That person has lost their mind. When we was preaching, remember we was preaching over there in Belgium. We was over in Belgium, and we took a train down into Paris. And we was all there on the train, me and Billy and Jolene and the Kermit dolls. And man, we was cracking up. Man, we was laughing. We was just, we was just, and everybody on the train seemed to go. I could tell by the expression on their face, they was going to be stupid Americans. Because they all walk around like this. They look so sad. I'm like, man, we were just, you know, I mean, we were extremely, really joyful. But they was all looking sad and just like, you know, it's just like, you know, I don't know what these people are laughing about. And we had a great Matter of fact, if it's for one part, well, if y'all know Pam Crook at all, she has a son named Adam, and Adam was with us. And because there's so many people, he got kind of detached from us, and we didn't know where he was. And she'd get off, she's hysterical. Adam, Adam, where are you, Adam? Adam, Adam! And then Adam walks up, Mom, I'm right here. We were dying laughing. He goes, you like that Bible? Adam, where art thou? Adam, where art thou? I mean, man, we laughed so hard. And then she said, my purse, my purse. Where's my purse? Where's my purse? And I walked up to her. She said, Mom, it's right here on your shoulder. Man, we got him laughing again. You know what? Extreme joy. The early church. I'm telling you back home this. The early church, in the midst of persecution, They have extreme joy. Extreme joy. And folks, right now in our world, we may have a whole lot of crazy things happening around us, but you and I, as blood-borne, born, redeemed, folks who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we need to be having an extreme joy. We need to be excited about another day's journey, because our Savior is coming back sooner. As you look into the sky, you can see He's coming. He's coming. And hey, at any moment, He could return. I'm not walking around discouraged. Yeah. But they talk about the market. The market's coming. Yeah. The Bible says it's coming. The prophecy's being fulfilled. Yeah. It's just going to take place. By the time I get ready to curse it, I'm going to have no money. And it's going to all just be, you know, cars and stuff. I mean, the market. The market. The market. The market. You've been saved by the grace of God. Amen. Well, you should be saying, he's coming. Let's talk back to him. Everybody, let's talk back to him. I mean, but you know how it's going to work, though. It's going to be an instant, a moment, a trickle of light. Boom, baby, we are gone, gone, gone. Yeah. Wait a second, preacher. I'm just simply saying this. Maybe we're here this morning willing to have our passion for Christ reignited. You know what? Let's ask Dr. Xanadus. Let's every day be in the Word of God. Let's early begin to pray, cry out to God. And then let's be eager to serve the Lord, but also exhorting each other. I got two questions. My first question is this. Does the fire still burn to serve Jesus? Does the fire still burn to serve Jesus. The second question is this, do we need the Holy Spirit to reignite our passion? Do we need the Holy Spirit to reignite our passion? Well, here's some good news for us. Because we're saved, He indwells us already. See right there? The Bible says you have not because you ask not. The last is a simple statement. Let's call on Jesus. When? It's a call to remember, this afternoon, this morning, today. God speak into your heart. Let's clap together. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your blessings. Thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for the Word of God. And Fathers, we're about to give an invitation to this Lord to pray. And I suppose we're going to talk to you for a few moments about reigniting that fire. And not the fire is out, it's to be reignited. Perhaps God may come this morning and talk to you. Maybe God does some folks want to talk to you about some other things, some other issues. It's on their minds, on their hearts. Listen to some directions, some guidance. Probably people will come talk to you this morning. Once again, probably they can kneel at the altars, they can sit around the altar, they can stand around the altar, whichever way they need to come. I pray God may do that as they fill the drawing of your Holy Spirit. Then there might be some of you today, Father, that realize for the first time, they're not truly saved. They know about Jesus. They can spell his name forward and backward, but they must confess he does not live in their heart and soul. I pray God they come let me know or someone else know they have kindness in here, and we'll show them through the word of God how to trust Jesus. Father, help somebody. Won't you please talk with me? That's it. Won't you hear something? We pray, Father. Not only Jesus, no sir, but mighty Jesus. Amen.