If you could open up to Philippians chapter 4. Today we're not going to get to Philippians 4 until later on in the message, but if you could just open it up and have it waiting.
So today we're going to be talking about our heart, my heart, your heart, the condition, the affections of our hearts. And there's over a thousand verses in the Bible that address the condition of our hearts. I got to 250 of them in the first service, so I've got 750 more to go. So sit back. It's going to be a minute. Not really. I've only got about 20. But it is amazing how much of the scripture addresses our heart.
So I don't know if you're like me, but as Ricky's been going through the Book of Daniel, I have just been amazed at the lives that these young men. At the beginning of the book, they were young men. The lives that Daniel and his three friends lived before the Lord. They were very concerned about the purity of their heart, their personal holiness. Remember, they wouldn't eat the king's meat because they felt it would defile them. So they were very concerned about their inner man, about their hearts. They lived lives every day to honor God. They had this real sense that even though they lived in a pagan country with pagan kings, God was ruling over all of that. And that's good news for us today, isn't it? I mean, you may have been happy or not happy about the way the election turned out, but, you know, it doesn't matter. God rules.
So I'm thinking, gosh, what would I do if I was threatened? If my life was threatened over my service to the Lord, would my heart hold up or would I cave? What about my family? Would they be able to hold up or would they give in? What about my friends? Judy, my wife, does this to me all the time. We'll be watching something very serious on the TV or a movie. There's a new movie out called the Saints. It's about a variety of Christians through the ages that have served the Lord faithfully. Produced by Martin Scorsese. And the first one was on Joan of Arc, and the second was on John the Baptist. And they're going to have Francis of Assisi and just a very broad range of ordinary people, just like you and like me, but who served the Lord with extraordinary devotion. So Judy and I are watching the one on Joan of Arc. She got burned at the stake. So as we're watching that and I'm feeling the conviction of the movie, Judy looks at me, as she does many times, and says, chuck, what do you think you would do? I'm thinking, I don't know. I know what I hope I would do, but I don't know. I joke that people say, have you ever heard the Lord's voice speak to you audibly? And I say, well, yeah, it sounds a lot like Judy's voice. She's always probing me. She's probing, asking various things. That's one of the things she does. What do you think you would do? I don't know.
Have you seen those commercials on TV where the guy's on the street and he walks up to someone and says, hey, how's your heart doing? And the person goes, well, okay, I guess. Well, do you know? Well, I feel good. And then he pulls out the little heart monitor. You put your fingers on it and get a readout of the condition of your heart.
Well, the thousand verses in the Bible isn't talking about our physical heart, it's talking about our inner heart, the core of our being. And the Lord has given us that heart as a truth telling device that will tell us how we're doing if we'll pay attention to it. So that's what we're going to be looking at today, the condition of our heart.
6 · The pastor expounds the primary text (Proverbs 4:23) using three translations to emphasize the command to guard the heart vigilantly, establishing the foundational metaphor that everything we do flows from the heart like a constant stream
The first scripture I want us to look at is Proverbs 4, 23, and we've got three different translations of it. You've probably heard this. In fact, you've probably heard most of the scriptures we're going to be looking at today before. But I would encourage you to listen slowly today. Listen deeply and let the word of God penetrate your heart. Proverbs 4. Three in the ESV says, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. New American Standard Watch over your heart. There's that vigilant watching over how with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. And then the NIV says this. Above all else, above all else, above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Everything that we do flows out of our heart. The picture is that there's a stream flowing out of us constantly, constantly it's flowing out.
7 · The pastor develops the flowing-stream metaphor by contrasting positive and negative outflows from the heart, showing how what's in the heart inevitably manifests in relationships and daily life
Think about someone in Your life that you love to be around. Because when you're around them, they just encourage you. There's life that flows out of them. There's encouragement that flows out of them. They love Jesus more than you do. And so when you're around them, you love Jesus more because they love Jesus more. It's flowing out of them, flows out of our hearts. That's the. Something is going. If something's flowing out of your heart right now, something will be flowing out of your heart as you drive home. The next time you get into an argument with a friend or a family member, something's flowing out of your heart. It's constantly flowing. Springs of life flowing out of it.
8 · The pastor provides a theological definition of the heart, establishing it as the control center encompassing mind, soul, spirit, and emotions—the source of all thoughts, passions, decisions, and actions, making it God's primary concern
So let's just take a look at this. I was talking to a couple people this week about this, and they said, you know, I just. I hadn't thought about it that way. I hadn't thought about my heart as deeply as what you're talking about. So I thought, well, let's put up a couple things that speak to what the heart is. The heart is a central part of our being. It represents our mind, our soul, our spirit, our emotional nature. We talk about being in love, falling in love. All that has to do with the emotions of our heart, all that stuff that goes on inside of us. The heart is the seat of life. What's that mean? Well, it means the heart is the source of life. And everything vital to our Christian life should be done how? With all of our heart. It's our control center. If everything is flowing out of our hearts, then our heart is controlling everything that we do. What we think about, what we meditate on, what we dwell on, and ultimately what we do, it's coming out of our heart. It's the control center. It's the source of every thought, passion, and decision. Everything you think about, every passion that you have, the affections in your heart, it comes from deep within. It's the center of all spiritual activity. It's the center of all human life. It's often used interchangeably with the word soul. It's our inner man. The heart is the central essence of each one of us, and it's the primary concern of God. It's the catalyst for all action. The heart shapes everything that we do. And that's why it's so important to guard it and be careful what we fill it with.
9 · The pastor signals a structural shift from defining the heart to explaining why the heart's condition matters, setting up the first major section of the sermon
So in this first section, I want to talk about why it matters. Why are we talking about that this morning? Why does the Bible have a thousand verses about the heart?
10 · The pastor expounds the Great Commandment passage, demonstrating that God's primary concern is receiving wholehearted love—emphasized by Jesus elevating this above all 600+ Old Testament commandments and making it the hinge upon which all Scripture depends
Number one, it Matters to God. It matters to God. Remember the story when they came to Jesus, they were always trying to trick him somehow. And one day they were talking about the importance of the Commandments, and they thought, we're going to trick him. The Jewish people in the Old Testament had over 600 commandments that they were required to follow. And the rabbis would categorize them. Some were moral commandments having to do with our character. Some were civil commandments to do with the way the nation was run. Some were ceremonial commandments, 600 commandments. And so the rabbis would structure them so that they could teach on them. And each rabbi had their own special little hierarchy of commandments. So they wanted to test Jesus. So they came to him. Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? And you can see there, in Mark 12, Jesus answered and said this. The most important is this. And he quotes out of Deuteronomy 6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord. Now, we've all heard this. We all know it. And you shall love the Lord your God. How? With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And the second is, like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Someone said that that little word, all, is what separates the Bible from every other book. You shall love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. When the Lord forgives us, he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The lord is after 100% of our hearts, all of our hearts. And then Jesus said, there is no other commandment greater than these. And in Matthew, he says, on these commandments depend all the law and the prophets. In other words, the Bible they had when Jesus was on earth was our Old Testament. And that term, the law and the prophets, is shorthand for the whole Old Testament. So Jesus is saying that all the commands in the Old Testament, in the Scriptures that they had hang on these two commandments. You shall love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul. Forget the other 600 commandments. Focus on this. Loving the Lord with all your heart. Isn't that amazing?
11 · The pastor develops the theme that God actively searches for hearts completely devoted to Him, drawing from 2 Chronicles 16:9 and the Beatitudes to establish God's high standard of purity and His promise to support those whose hearts are fully His
Now look at this. 2nd Corinthians. I'm sorry. 2nd Chronicles 16, 9 has this amazing scripture. King Asa was given this scripture by one of the holy seers of the day. And this man came to King Asa and he said this about the Lord. For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth so that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his. Wouldn't you like your name to be put in that Scripture that as the Lord was looking throughout the whole earth, he found Raoul McKinney. And he's going to strongly support Raoul because Raoul's heart is completely the Lord's. Isn't that an amazing scripture? The Lord's looking. He's looking at our lives. He's looking at my life. He's looking at your life. He wants to support those whose hearts are completely his. So it matters to the Lord. We need to give attention to our heart because it matters to God. In Matthew 5, Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, the pure in heart. If you've got a glass of water that's completely pure and you put one drop of dirty water in it, it's not pure anymore. It might be 99.9%, but it's not pure. So that's a high call, isn't it? The Lord's looking for pure hearts. That's not my heart, but that's what the Lord's looking for. He's looking for a pure heart. And Jesus was that perfect example.
12 · The pastor transitions from the first reason (hearts matter to God) to the second reason (hearts matter to the church), signaling a shift in focus to the corporate implications of heart condition
So it matters to the Lord, the condition of our hearts. Number two. It matters to the church.
13 · The pastor expounds Ephesians 4:2-3, establishing that God creates church unity when He saves diverse people, but it's our responsibility to maintain that unity by guarding our hearts against bitterness in conflict
Ephesians, chapter four. Look at this verse. Be completely humble. He's talking to the church at Ephesus, a church just like us, local church, all kinds of people. He says, be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another. And then he says this. Bearing with one another in love. And then he says, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. It matters. Your heart. My heart matters to this church because the Lord wants us to maintain the unity that he's already placed here. We're not united in our hearts because we've created that unity. The Lord creates the unity when he saves us. And he brings us into his church with a diverse group of people, very different people. If you get to know me a little bit better, you may start having problems with me. Someone said, chuck, you seem like a really nice guy. He said, well, just get to know me a little bit more. You know, that will change. But the Lord puts us together. Different personalities, different backgrounds, different beliefs, but we're united because of our Lord Jesus. We love hearing the testimonies. When you guys go through the membership process, we ask you to write out your testimony. It's such a blessing for us as your pastors to hear how the Lord has saved you. Each of you have an incredible, powerful testimony of what the Lord has done in your life, to open your eyes, to take you from a life of sin and bring you to him and then bring you into his church. The Bible says he translates us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. And each of you have this powerful story. And he's brought us together in the church in unity. It's our responsibility to maintain that unity, to guard our hearts so that when we have conflict, we don't get embittered with one another.
14 · The pastor constructs a hypothetical scenario showing how unresolved conflict metastasizes into gossip, which the enemy uses to divide the church—illustrating the corporate consequences of unguarded hearts
If we get a little crossways, like let's say I got crossways with Stacy and she and I had a conflict and I didn't deal with it right. And all of a sudden I'm talking to Joe and I'm saying, hey, Joe, you know about that girl Stacy? So I start gossiping about Stacy. And then Joe says, well, no, Joe wouldn't do this because he's not like this, but let's use someone else. So let's see. Let's use Ezekiel. Is there anybody here? Anybody here named Ezekiel? I hope not. Anyway, so I go to Zeke, Ezekiel, and I say, hey, this is what's going on with me and Stacy. And this is what she did to me. This is what she said. And Zeke goes, you know, I knew there was something about Stacy. There's just something. Last time I talked to her, you know. Yeah. And Zeke goes over and talks to Sally. See, this is what happens. This is where the enemy uses our flesh, our heart that's evil, to break up the church.
15 · The pastor applies the hypothetical illustration by directly commanding the congregation to resolve conflicts through reconciliation, bringing in help if needed, rather than allowing divisions to develop
But if we deal, if Stacy and I deal with our issues between her and me together and get it reconciled, then we maintain the unity that God's created. So if you've got a conflict with someone in your family, in the church, resolve it, get help. If you can't resolve it yourself, would that person bring someone in? Resolve the conflict. Don't let there become a divide between you and someone else. Maintain the unity that the Lord has put in his church.
16 · The pastor expounds Luke 6:45, establishing the principle that what is abundant in the heart inevitably manifests through speech and action, especially under pressure
Jesus said this. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. Again, that stream is flowing. It's either good or bad. And then Jesus says this. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. So listen, whatever's in your heart in abundance, it's going to come out. You may try to keep it, keep the lid on it, but when the pressures of life comes, man, it comes out. And it either comes out in health, in healing, or it comes out in bitterness and anger.
17 · The pastor links the overflow principle to Hebrews' warning about bitterness and Proverbs' teaching on the tongue's power, establishing that heart issues must be addressed because they inevitably manifest in speech that brings either death or life
The Bible says in Hebrews, it says, don't let a root of bitterness spring up because it will defile many. So if you've got a problem with bitterness and anger and resentment, that's a heart issue. Deal with it. Because it will come out what's in your heart in abundance. It will come out, so deal with it. Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life. What we say to and about one another matters.
18 · The pastor uses a familiar cultural saying to refute the idea that words don't cause harm, reinforcing that hurtful speech originates in the heart and must be addressed there
You know what's that old saying, Sticks and stones may break my bones. No. How's that go? Stick and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. That's not true. Whoever came up with that word's hurt. We can do some terrible things and it all springs from our heart. So we have to deal with our heart. We have to take it to the Lord.
19 · The pastor shifts to direct pastoral mode, using sobering pastoral experience with dying saints to warn that unresolved bitterness surfaces when control weakens, making immediate reconciliation urgent
Listen, Jesus died so that you could be reconciled with that person that you've got an ought with that you're offended with. Some people carry bitternesses their whole lives. Their whole lives. You know one thing that happens at the end of life? I'm old enough to have had the privilege to sit with a number of people when they're dying. And occasionally when someone is in the last few, just the last season of life, their mind weakens and they can't control everything that's in their hearts. So many times things start coming out, they start saying things, feeling things that they've been controlling for years. But as the body weakens, as their ability to take control of their thoughts weakens, they start saying some very hurtful things sometimes. And so, you know, when I've been there, we pray, we talk about it, go to the Lord for forgiveness. But I think about that and I think about, wow, how important it is to deal with these things. Because the hurts don't go away. We just stuff them down. They're there and they will come out sooner or later.
20 · The pastor concludes the church-focused section and transitions to the third reason hearts matter: our witness to unbelievers in our relational networks
So it's important that we deal with them. It's important to the church. So the condition of our heart matters to God, to the Lord, it matters to the church, and it matters to our friends and family. Jesus said the second commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
21 · The pastor pauses the sermon's main argument to directly evangelize any unsaved listeners, proclaiming the gospel clearly before returning to application for believers
I think this category is where we find many of our unsaved friends. Most of us here today, most of us here in the church know the Lord, desire to serve the Lord. If you're here and you don't know the Lord, we would encourage you to surrender your heart to Jesus. He died for your sins. The Bible says all of us are spiritually dead and separated from God because of our sin. But Jesus himself said for God so loved the world that he, the Father, God gave his only begotten Son, talking about himself, Jesus, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. God loves you enough to send his own son to die a terrible death, to pay the penalty for your sin, to take your sin upon him so that you can come to the Father through the blood of Jesus. So most of us here are Christians. If you're not, surrender your heart to him. Today, the Holy Spirit's speaking to you even through this message.
22 · The pastor establishes that our daily lives—not our Sunday behavior—constitute our real witness to unbelievers, using humor about church masks to emphasize that neighbors, coworkers, and family see the authentic condition of our hearts
But many of our neighbors, a lot of times in our families, our co workers, they don't know the Lord. Maybe the only message or the only idea they have about Jesus is what they see in you. What they see in me. That's sobering, isn't it? So many times the people at work, the people in our neighborhoods, as we relate, the people in our families, they see the real us because they see us so much. You do realize that right now we're not really real. You know, you guys, we've all cleaned up in order to come to church. We're smiling, we're worshiping, we're looking good. You know, we've all heard the stories or experienced it in our own lives where on the way to church, we're fighting. But as soon as we pull into the parking lot, hey, man, we're doing good, you know, Hi, Ralph. Hi, Mike. Doing good, me and Judy. Then after the service, we get in the car and we pick up the fight right where we left off. So this isn't real. It's important. Corps four come to church, but this isn't real. What's real is what's going on in your everyday life. If we stayed here a little bit longer, like, you know, for four or five hours, then we'd start seeing each other. The mass would come down a little bit.
23 · The pastor uses the recent election season and media advice to avoid family gatherings as a cultural example of how divided hearts lead to broken relationships, even at the family table
So what happens in our heart is important to our friends, to our family members, to our neighbors, our co workers. We just came through a terrible election season. Terrible in the sense of all the hateful things that were said. One of the candidates said at the end of the election day, 50% of the country is going to be disappointed. Which is true. The vote was very close. Some of the news outlets were encouraging us not to go to Thanksgiving dinner with your families to avoid the conflict. Think about that. That's how bad it is to where the news is telling us not to go to Thanksgiving dinner so that you don't fight with one another. That's a terrible commentary on where we are and how much importance we place on politics that we can't even sit down with our family members.
24 · The pastor applies the election illustration by commanding believers to attend family gatherings as peacemakers and to be salt and light in the world rather than withdrawing, connecting heart condition to witness and cultural impact
How much better to bring the peace of the Lord in Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be known as sons of God. How much better to go to that Thanksgiving dinner where you know that Uncle Bob, the first thing he's going to talk about is whatever, but go and bring peace to Uncle Bob. Be kind, be loving. Find a way to bring health to your family rather than staying away. Listen, Jesus said, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. We are to make a difference. Difference. We're not to pull back. We're to be right in the middle of it, bringing help. Salt preserves. Salt prevents moral decay. That's what he was saying. Be the salt of the earth. Stand for righteousness wherever you go. Take my light into this dark world. So it matters. The condition of our hearts matter. If our hearts are soft towards the Lord and willing to be used and we're dealing with things in our hearts as we're before him every day in the word, confessing our sin. Lord, help my heart. These things matter.
25 · The pastor signals a major structural shift to the practical framework (nine areas of heart care) while anticipating objections and establishing that the message convicts him as much as the congregation
So let's take a look at nine areas that we can care for our hearts. Nine areas. We'll move through this fairly quick. Most of these scriptures will be up on the screen. So you might say to me, chuck, as you're talking about this, if you only knew what goes on in my heart. And I would say back to you, if you only knew what goes on in my heart. These are things that each one of. No one is escaping this message today. If you're here, you needed to hear this message. I've been meditating on this for about three months and it's been brutal because I needed this message.
26 · The pastor introduces the first practice for heart care—self-evaluation through Psalm 139—calling for courage to invite God to expose wickedness in the heart
Caring for our hearts. First thing, evaluate your heart's affections. Slow down and take a look at your heart. Psalm 139. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked, anxious, grievous way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. Are you kidding me? To see if there's any wicked way. Have the courage to evaluate your heart.
27 · The pastor introduces the second practice—throwing oneself on God's grace when trapped in sin—establishing that entrenched sin reveals misplaced affections that require a supernatural reordering of love toward God
Ask the Lord to expose your heart, number two, with humility and godly sorrow. Throw yourself on the Lord and his grace. Throw yourself upon his grace. This particular point, look at Titus 2. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. So the grace of God embodied in our Lord Jesus. John says. The apostle John says that The Lord was full of grace and truth. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation, training us to renounce ungodliness, to say no to sin and worldly passions, and to live a self controlled, upright, godly life. In this present age, if you are trapped by some type of sin, if you're trapped in pornography, if you're trapped in anger, if you're trapped in resentment, bitterness, rage, if you're trapped in slothfulness, if you're trapped in stealing, if you're trapped in any of these areas that the Bible enumerates many times. What we've got to do when we're trapped is throw ourselves on the grace of God. When we're trapped in a certain sin, it means that the affection of our heart has surrounded that particular sin and we are embracing it. We are loving it. If we're not repenting from it, if we're not turning away from it, if we're not battling it, we're loving it. And we need to cry out to the Lord. This is not a practical to do. This is like a mystical spiritual thing to cry out to the Lord and say, lord Jesus, give me an affection for you that overcomes this other empty affection that just has a grip on my life. The affections of our heart. What do you love? What do you love? Cry out to the Lord, Lord, give me an affection for your that overpowers and overtakes every other affection.
28 · The pastor introduces the third practice—hiding God's Word in the heart through memorization—using a personal example from the congregation and establishing Scripture's purifying power to expose sin and reveal God's will
Number three. Lay up God's word in your heart. Psalm 119. Your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. What a simple, powerful verse. Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. When's the last time you memorized the Scripture? We have a friend that's here with us today, Marie. She loves to memorize God's Word. You go into her house and she's got scripture plaques all over. And when you talk to Marie, she loves to tell you about the most recent scripture that she's memorized. She's constantly laying up God's Word in her heart. Your Word have I hidden in my heart? Why? That I might not sin against you. God's Word has a purifying effect in our lives. In Hebrews 4, it says, His Word is alive and powerful, that it goes down deep into our hearts and discerns the intents of our heart as we open up God's Word daily and expose ourselves to His Word. His Word is just shining truth into us, exposing our hearts, showing us what his will is showing us. Areas we need to confess and repent of receiving his forgiveness and starting fresh again.
29 · The pastor introduces the fourth practice—praying for a clean heart—using David's post-sin cry from Psalm 51 as a model, emphasizing that heart issues require emotional engagement, not merely intellectual assent
Number four. Pray and thank God and depend on him for a clean and pure heart. Psalm 51. This is David. King David crying out to the Lord as part of his forgiveness and restoration. After he had sinned grievously, committing the sin of adultery and then murder with Bathsheba and her husband. His sin was exposed, and this is part of his cry for forgiveness. Create in me a pure heart and restore a steadfast spirit within me. You can hear his heart. He has sinned grievous. He's crying out, lord, Lord, create in me a pure heart. Lord, I don't want this to happen anymore. In my life, I failed. You created me a clean heart, Lord, a pure heart. So cry out to the Lord. We got to get emotionally involved in these things because they're heart issues, they're not academic issues, they're not logical issues, they're issues of the heart. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and restore a right spirit within me.
30 · The pastor introduces the fifth practice—cultivating thankfulness—emphasizing that gratitude must be directed to God as its object, using Thanksgiving and personal testimony about friends to model grateful prayer
Number five. Cultivate a grateful and thankful heart. It's Thanksgiving. Have much to be thankful for. In our staff meeting this week, Ricky was encouraging us to make sure that our thankfulness has an object. Have you ever thought about this, that the world is saying, be thankful, Be thankful, everyone, it's Thanksgiving. Be thankful. Who are we to be thankful to? To the Lord first. To the Lord. Lord, thank you for all that you've done. Thank you for saving me, Lord. Thank you for opening my eyes to who you are and how much I need you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for my family, Lord. Thank you for my friends. Judy and I wouldn't be serving the Lord. Well, we may be, but maybe we wouldn't be. We wouldn't be serving the Lord without all of our friends that we've had for all these years that have loved us and cared for us and forgiven us and encouraged us and not given up on us and just stood by us. Lord, thank you. Thank you for all of our dear, sweet friends.
31 · The pastor develops the thankfulness practice by showing how it addresses specific heart problems—discouragement, depression, and pride—and connects it to acknowledging God rather than ourselves
Develop a grateful thankful heart. If you have a problem with discouragement, depression, pride, which we all do, thankfulness will resolve much of that. A thankful heart to the Lord. If you're so proud of what you've accomplished in life, and you know that maybe you're being proud, thank the Lord for helping you to accomplish whatever you've accomplished, that it will humble you the more that you thank the Lord and acknowledge him. Proverbs 3 says, Trust the Lord with all your heart and all your Ways. Acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. We love to acknowledge ourselves. The Bible says, acknowledge him, and he will direct your lives. So a grateful, thankful heart cultivate it. Psalm 118. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his love endures forever. So much to be thankful for.
32 · The pastor introduces the sixth practice—disciplining thoughts and speech—using Psalm 19:14 to establish that both spoken words and inner meditations must be acceptable to God, with Scripture as the source of God-honoring meditations
Number 6. Give attention to your words and the meditations of your heart. Psalm 19. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, Lord. My rock and my redeemer. What are you meditating on? What do you dwell on? The Psalm says, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord. Are the words that are coming out of your mouth acceptable to the Lord? Are the things that you dwell on, the meditations. When you lay in bed at night, are you anxious? Are you worrying? Are you fearful? What are you meditating on? What are you dwelling on? The meditations of your heart. The psalmist says, let the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord. If they're not acceptable, take them to the Lord. Confess them. Ask the Lord to give you meditations that would be acceptable to him. Where are you going to find those type of meditations? In God's Word. In God's Word. With the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart.
33 · The pastor applies the meditation principle with concrete examples of unacceptable thought patterns—pornography and bitterness—warning that tolerating sin in the thought life is spiritually destructive
If you're picking up that phone, my phone's over there. If you're picking up that phone and you're clicking on a porn site and you're meditating on that, that's not acceptable. That is sinful. Don't satisfy. Don't let yourself be satisfied with a sinful life. Fight against it. If you've got a resentment in your heart towards Betty, don't be satisfied. Don't say, I'm just gonna be angry with her for the rest of my life. That bitterness isn't hurting Betty. It's killing you. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable.
34 · The pastor introduces the seventh practice—responding to God's testing and discipline—using the fire metaphor from John the Baptist and Malachi to establish that God intensifies circumstances to expose and purify heart impurities
Number seven. This is a tough one. Respond to the testing and discipline of the Lord. The Lord is constantly testing us, constantly testing us. And he brings the heat. A couple verses. Matthew 5. John the Baptist said that Jesus, when he comes, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. We don't think about that a lot. What's it mean when the Lord baptizes us with fire? It has to do with sanctification. It has to do with purity. It has to do with his desire to get the bad stuff out of our hearts. Jesus comes with fire. Malachi 3:2. He the Lord will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. It's the picture of a refiner sitting there and turning up the heat on the metal to get the impurities to come to the surface. That's what the Lord does in our hearts.
35 · The pastor expounds Hebrews 12, showing that God's discipline is painful but produces righteousness in those trained by it, and that God is a consuming fire whose heat purifies rather than destroys us because Jesus bore the penalty for sin
Hebrews 12. Lay aside every weight in the sin which clings so closely. What sin is it that clings closely to you? Lay it aside and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful when the fire is being turned up. It's painful and it's not pleasant. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. How? And to who? To those who have been trained by it. Let us offer God acceptable worship at the end of Hebrews 12 with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. When you realize that we shall all just be little burnt crisps sitting here. I mean, really, that's how abhorrent sin is to the Lord. He is a consuming fire. But he is gracious enough to control that heat so that it doesn't destroy us, but that it burns up and out the impurities. So that through confession and receiving forgiveness, he purifies us. Because of Jesus, folks. Because Jesus took the penalty for our sins. That's why we're not burned up. That's why we're not going to burn in hell forever. We're going to have fellowship with the Lord forever because of Jesus. But our God is still a consuming fire.
36 · The pastor expounds Proverbs 17:3 and develops the dual-agency framework that in every situation God tests hearts while the devil tempts to sin, using humorous examples of prayers for patience backfiring to show how circumstances reveal heart condition
Look at Proverbs 17:3. The crucible is for silver, the furnace is for gold. And the Lord tests hearts. Listen, every challenge that you have, every temptation you have, is a test from the Lord. One person said, in every situation, the Lord is testing our hearts and the devil is tempting us to sin in every situation. Sometimes, maybe many times, it takes wisdom to discern. Like, lord, why are you Lord? I prayed for patience. And what happens the next day? I mean, you're just. Something happens in your life where there's no way you can be patient. Help me with my anger. Some guy cuts you off. The Lord is testing our hearts. He's a faithful Father testing us. The enemy is there to tempt us to sin. But in the midst of that temptation, is God testing us as a loving heavenly Father? Is that Me? No. Probably should be me.
37 · The pastor introduces the eighth practice—engaging in spiritual warfare—establishing that believers face a merciless enemy in the devil who actively battles against them daily
Number eight. Fight the Good fight. We're almost through here, folks. Fight the good fight. Spiritual warfare. We have an enemy. We have an enemy that is not. He doesn't have any mercy, no grace, no love. He hates us. He hates the Lord. It's the spirit of Antichrist in the devil. Antichrist. He has nothing good in store for you. And he's battling. And we have to battle Every morning.
38 · The pastor expounds Ephesians 6's armor of God passage, itemizing each piece and warning that failing to equip oneself guarantees defeat in the daily spiritual battle
Ephesians 6. If you haven't memorized Ephesians 6, the full armor of God, do that. This week, Paul writes to the church at Ephesus. He says, put on the full armor of God. He says, our battle isn't against one another, flesh and blood, it's against spiritual forces. Put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. Share your faith. The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the shield of faith. Put on the full armor of God and go to battle. You are in battle whether you think you are or not. But if you're not equipping yourself, if you're not putting the full armor on, you're going to be defeated tomorrow, and you're not going to have a good day because our enemy doesn't hold up.
39 · The pastor expounds 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, establishing that spiritual warfare begins in the mind where every thought must be taken captive, and applies this with concrete examples of thought patterns that constitute losing the battle
Listen. The fight begins in our mind. Look at these verses. 2 Corinthians 10. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments of every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. And we take every. Every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought that goes into your mind, that's an ungodly thought. You've got to take it captive. A fight begins in your mind. You picking up that phone and watching stuff you shouldn't watch is not taking thoughts captive. You dwelling on that person that you're resentful about, you getting angry at your boss, that's not taking thoughts captive. That's the first step in losing the battle.
40 · The pastor expounds Philippians 4:8 in detail, establishing the positive counterpart to taking thoughts captive—actively disciplining the mind to dwell on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable
Philippians 4:8. This is the one I wanted you to turn to. Look at this, if you have your Bible. Philippians 4:8. Let's read it together. Follow along as I read this. Finally, brothers, whatever is true. Now think about these things. This is what Paul is saying. This is what we should think about. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Those are the things we need to be thinking about. The pure, the Honorable. The lovely things, the things that are of good report. Think about those things. Discipline your mind to think about these things.
41 · The pastor completes the Philippians 4 exposition by emphasizing the command to practice what has been learned, with God's peace as the promised result
And then verse nine, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things. Do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
42 · The pastor uses a vulnerable personal story about his marriage to illustrate the gap between heart intention and actual practice, making concrete the necessity of doing what we know
One of the problems that Judy and I have had in our marriage is that I haven't been doing things that are in my heart. We'll go to counseling. We'll talk with our friends. And Judy said, I just don't feel Chuck's love. I think he's just thinking about himself. And I said, baby, I love you with all my heart. I've never loved another woman in my life. I love you. And she kind of looks at me and I say, it's in my heart. And she's going, well, get it out of your heart. Get it out. Start doing it. Start doing it. I mean, I can't tell you how many times this has happened, but it's in my heart and it is. It is in my heart. But I'm not doing verse nine. I'm not doing it. I'm not practicing those things.
43 · The pastor introduces the ninth and final practice—engaging the church's Core Four framework—connecting heart care to the established discipleship rhythms of the church
Do spiritual warfare. Take control of your thoughts. Do the things that you know you should do. And number nine, practice the core four. We've already mentioned that today, Ricky, practice the core four.