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sermonette: Whatever Your Heart Desires

Freedom that Reveals the Heart
Ryan McClure
Given 19-Sep-26; Sermon #1894s; 18 minutes

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Well, we are just under a week away from the opening night of the Feast of Tabernacles 2026. And I venture to guess that many of us are, are pretty much done with our feast preparations by way of planning and paying for travel and accommodations for not only getting to the festival location but staying as well. If you haven't, me saying that probably just stressed you out. Now this time can be pretty hectic pretty hectic time as we put the finishing touches on packing, getting ready to leave our homes, and taking care of last minute items that require our time and attention. And I have often reminisced. About my younger years when my dad and Dan Fletcher would be working on whatever vehicle we had at that time, the night before we were supposed to leave for the feast, and as kids would go to bed that night not knowing whether or not we would actually be leaving for the feast in the morning. And this was not a one-time event, which is why the memory has stuck in my mind. Now speaking of memories, we probably all have memorable feast experiences that are top of mind for us. Another one for me was in 1984, when my family had enough second tithe to go to Hawaii for the feast. Both of my parents were working full-time jobs at the time. It was honestly one of the only years I remember us um doing financially well enough to actually fly the entire family somewhere, so that year, my parents decided to go to Hawaii. Now, no doubt when they had finally, when they finally had some additional 2nd tide, my dad probably thought, well, instead of trying to fix the car until all hours of the morning, let's fly somewhere, cause at least they wouldn't ask him to try to fix the plane. Now not only was the feast memorable, but the run up to the feast was equally memorable for me. As I mentioned, this was one year where we were actually doing pretty well financially, and it was the only year that I recall receiving feast gifts just after the Feast of Trumpets at that particular size and scale. My sisters and I came into the living room and all I can remember is there in the corner of, of the room, there was basically a, a wall of, of boxes or, or gifts, and I'm pretty sure that knowing my mom, they were probably all wrapped. But there was not just 31 for each of us siblings. There was multiple boxes for each one of us, and it was, it was very exciting opening all of those gifts. Now I've attended many feasts since that one, and a lot has changed in terms of what I have both purchased and received for the feast. Making a generic financial statement, I have long believed that as we grow up and mature. That during our our youth, we have a list of things that we think that we need, but they are merely wants, and we strive so hard to obtain them because we think we need them, but we really just want them. Then At a certain age as we mature and maybe get married, perhaps have kids, our perspective begins to change. Instead of buying fun things for yourself, you're stuck buying socks, ties, suits, dresses, new clothes for the kids because they are growing so fast, and now you're booking two or three rooms because you all can't fit into one hotel room. So a lot changes as you get older. But you're just happy to be there at the feast. So again, more broadly, our wants and needs, or one could say our desires change as we age. What we think we might need or even want changes as we mature and further develop as God calls us and reveals to us what is actually important in life. Now today, I'd like to focus on one of the basic commands that God gives us regarding the feast, gives to us regarding the feast and probably more specifically His holy days where he commands us to appear before Him. So if you will, let's turn over to Deuteronomy 14 for our first scripture. Deuteronomy 14:22, this will be the scripture that we focus in on for today. Deuteronomy 14 will read verses 22 through 27. You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year, and you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to make his name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks that you may learn to fear the Lord your God, always. But if the journey is too long for you so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you, When the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money. Take the money in your hand and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses. Verse 26, and you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires. You shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. Now Israel was commanded to appear before the Lord 3 times a year, and we find that in Exodus 23, to not only eat and drink before Him, but to rejoice and not forsake the Levite or the priests that were within their area there. Now beyond their personal rejoicing, this reveals a sense of charity or fulfilling a need for those who do not have so that they might share in the same joy. Notably, God also says that we are to spend the money, meaning the tithes that we have saved, which would be second tithe in this case, on whatever our heart desires. He repeats it twice in the same sentence as he references food and drink that we might rejoice before the Lord. And we are going to focus in or double click if you will on that phrase whatever your heart desires for most of us, and I recognize that I am painting with a rather large brush, but generally speaking, the feast is one of the most wealthy times of the year for us. If we've been diligent about saving second tithe, that is that is usually a decent amount of money, and I recognize that I can't lump all situations into this. There are some who are on. Social Security who literally have no second tithe at all. There are others that might be unemployed or underemployed. Um, or whatever the circumstance might be, I totally understand that. But in general, this is a wealthy time for God's people, and by extension, a time when we have power, purchasing power. We'll see what can happen if we aren't able to manage that power in Deuteronomy 8, if you want to go ahead and turn there. Now, I mentioned this in my last message, so at the risk of giving the same message again, let's tie the statement, whatever your heart desires back to God's command. Uh, that he gave to Israel, it still applies to us this day. Now scripture reveals that God tests us to know what is in our heart, and we will see that here in Deuteronomy 8:1 through 5, or actually Deuteronomy 8, let me get there, Deuteronomy 8. And we will read 1 through 2 here. Now every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So God uses the wilderness journey to test them, Israel, so that he could specifically know what was in their hearts. Now, if we were to keep reading this chapter, we would see later on in chapter 8 that God warns them not to forget who has blessed them with all of these things. So that when they have eaten and are full, When they obtained many physical things that their hearts would be lifted up or, as it says, are become proud, and they would forget the very God who blessed them with the food and the homes and the livestock that they were enjoying. So God is searching the hearts of men to know what is in their heart, and he provides a warning that physical wealth can lead to pride and destruction if not properly kept in check. But just to say, there is actually nothing wrong with, with with wealth. Wealth in, in and by itself. Now God uses these broader parameters, his specific commandments, and gives us free will so that in the end, he can see what is in our hearts. What will our hearts produce? In Matthew 15:118, you do not have to turn there. Jesus explains that it is not food per se that goes into the mouth that defiles a man. It's what comes out of the mouth from the heart that defiles the man. He lists evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies as some examples. You see, the heart reveals who we are, not only to each other, but to God. You can also write down Luke 6:45, where Jesus states, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. I believe that God's statement there in Deuteronomy 14 is not just a command to buy whatever food and drink your heart desires. I believe that it is at least in part a heart test to see what fruit we decide to bear at the feast, both financially and through our physical decisions. Now, since the beginning of time, God has laid uh a choice has been laid before all of mankind. Whether they, meaning men and women, would like to believe it or not, that choice has been given to each and every one of us. God said, I call heaven and earth as a witness today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live. And we find that in Deuteronomy 30:19. Now there is no different, um, this is no different than what we have been hearing recently regarding Adam and Eve that Craig Savlich has been talking about. God set them in the garden, gave them broad parameters, but He also gave them a commandment to not eat of that specific tree. Now God was testing them to see what was in their heart. Did they desire to listen to Him and please Him, or was their desire on something else? It literally says in Genesis 3:6 that Eve saw the tree was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise. When we think about what our heart desires, here is some practical applications that we can leverage to help us in our thought process or decisioning process. Do we desire to be like Christ? Am I focusing on temporary physical things, or am I laying up treasure in heaven which would be spiritual things? Does my heart desire to love God and the brethren? Does my heart desire to be at peace with God and the brethren? Does my heart say, My power, and by the might of my hand, I have gained these things? What does our heart desire? You know, when I was putting this together, I could not help but think about a phrase that I often hear in corporate America. It's usually articulated. Articulated as and we will just use me as an example, you know, Ryan woke up this morning and chose violence. Now this is often used as a joke to gently rebuke somewhat of a difficult stakeholder in a nice way. It basically means that you decided that no matter how much or how well something is explained to you or how beneficial it might be, you could essentially care less. You hate it and it will not work, and it's just a terrible idea. And so that day you chose to be violent instead of being more of a team player who looks for a viable solution to the actual issue. So I asked myself at the feast, do we, do I decide, do we decide to wake up and choose violence, or do we wake up and choose a loving heart, a kind heart, a merciful heart, a compassionate heart, a long suffering heart, a forgiving heart, a giving heart? A thankful to God for all He's provided for us heart. What does our heart desire? Now you might say, well, that's fine and good, but the scripture is clearly talking about spending money and buying whatever your heart desires. That's very true, but I'm not here to tell you how to spend your second tithe, that's not my job. Um, and second tithe was given to you by God, by the way. I'm not here to tell you what you should and should not purchase. God wants to know what is in our heart. Remember the parameters that I spoke to earlier. God gives us general guidelines, but He also gives us commands. God gave us the 10 Commandments, and so I do not think anyone would disagree that if we lie that we somehow aren't sinning. God says thou shalt not bear false witness in Exodus 21. That's lying, and it's clearly wrong. But bearing false witness against our neighbors is not the only thing that we shouldn't do to them. Because more broadly, God tells us to love our neighbors as ourself. The requirement goes beyond the command, so to speak. So while God has given us some very distinct, you know, thou shalt not. There are other parts of his commands and instructions that are open to some level of decision making. I think that is, I think that it is in these parts that God is providing the free will opportunity so that he might know what is in our hearts. Do our desires align with God's will and way of life? Now, a good example of this is tithing, which incidentally is, is here in the scriptures in Deuteronomy that we just went through. God commands us to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tithe. And he also tells us how much he tells us 10%. Those are commands. There is there is no ambiguity there. These are things that he requires. And then he commands us to bring an offering to him on the holy days. But he doesn't tell us how much to bring. He simply says in Deuteronomy 16:17, Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you. Well, now, what do we bring? Is it another 10% of our income based on what he's blessed us with? Does it vary based on what we are blessed with one year and perhaps the financial hardships that we have the next? Is it a set amount that we can somehow derive from Scripture? The point is, God gives us commands to tithe, but then He gives us another opportunity to see what our heart desires through offerings. Do we desire to follow Him, to please Him, to give back to Him just a small fraction of what He's already given to us? And do we do that joyfully and with a good heart? Again, I did not set out in this message to give us a list of acceptable things that we can or cannot spend our second tithe on at the feast. That is basically the whole point. What does your heart desire? What does my heart desire? And that is the question that each of us has to answer and then act upon ourselves. Every day we wake up in the morning, are we desiring to be more like Christ? Are we choosing His way of life? Is our heart desiring to bear good fruit? Now we can find in scripture the type of heart that God is looking for in each and every one of us, and that should ultimately inform what we decide to do. Now finally, one very interesting aspect of second tithe as it relates to what our heart desires is how temporary it is. It is saved throughout the year and then basically used for the feast and of course other holy days where we are also celebrating before the Lord, but it is temporary. Now, I recognize everyone is probably saying, well, all of my income is temporary, but during the course of the year, we might be purchasing things that stick around like um. Uh, you know, for a couple of years, like homes and vehicles, long term investments, material things like that, the feast has a very temporary feeling to it because it's bound by time, so we go to the feast, we spend at the feast, and then we go home and the money's gone. Similarly, God tells us to lay up our treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy. We find that in Matthew 16:19. This shows us that our heart, while physical, should be focusing on the spiritual things that will lead up to true treasure, lasting treasure, versus the physical things like money that are fleeting and passing away. When God says, whatever your heart desires, He is wanting us to make decisions based on what He's taught us and what we've learned. He uses this freedom to test us, to know what is in our hearts. How do we celebrate? How do we treat others? How do we worship Him? Do we fear Him in the in the freedom that He's provided? Do we remember that everything we have has come from Him? What does our heart desire?