Watch Over Your Heart

I want you to turn me to Proverbs chapter 4, and we're chatting. How are we doing? Okay, we are. Now. Are we on now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? I feel like I'm jacking a box. How are we? Is something wrong? Okay. I'm going to speak up. Well, you just leave it alone, and I'll just attempt to do it without a mic. We're going to begin looking up the next three weeks. The next three weeks, I'm going to be leaving for the Philippines in about three and a half weeks, and so the next three weeks I'd like to do is this monitor here is real high. We'll get this straight in a second. Over the next three weeks, what I'd like to do is speak to you about, as we approach this new year in 2002, I'd like to get you to think about this year, about your own heart, about discipleship, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and what your plans are, what your intentions are in walking with Christ, and how you're going to live your life.

What's going to happen to you over the next year? It was a real thrill to me last night. I got a phone call from Kurt Storyboat, who's sitting right here, Kurt and Sarah. Once you guys stand up, and now I'll tell him about you. It's his Kurt and Sarah, and they're two children whose names I've already forgotten. It's Laurie. And Aaron. And Aaron. And we're so glad they're here. They're from Southern California, Bear Valley. Bear Valley. And you can sit down. Kurt and Sarah went to the Grace School of Theology in 1983, 1845, 186 right in there. And we're students. And about a year ago, I guess, I don't know when it was exactly, that Kurt had called me, and I went down and did a retreat for them, and I hadn't seen them in years.

I'll tell you, it was such an incredible relief to find out that we had not ruined them. Those years that they were at the Grace School of Theology that God has built into their life such a love for Christ, a love for God's people, and is using them in a wonderful and great way in that church. And it was such a pleasure. And being involved in making disciples is the most important thing about your life as a believer in Jesus Christ. You are a disciple of Christ. You may be a disobedient disciple. You may be an unconscious disciple. You may have never even thought about the implications of you being a disciple of Jesus Christ. But that's exactly what you are if you have put faith in Christ Jesus.

And this year, as we face the New Year, all of us are very much aware about certain things in our lives that need to change. You've got plans, I know, some New Year's resolutions that you are going to make in your life. You're going to change some habits, the way you eat, the way you exercise, the way you learn and read, and all those things. A lot of things are going on in your mind. Some of you are very aware of your heart condition that you have a certain cholesterol level. And you're going to work on that or high blood pressure. You know a lot of things. But what I want you to think about this morning is the condition of the most important part of you. And that's the condition of your spiritual heart.

And this is exactly what Solomon is speaking to us about in Proverbs chapter 4. In beginning in verse 20, he writes these words, my son, and he's writing to his son, the one he is so concerned about, his own son, and in the spirit of God, moving his heart to write to his son about true wisdom in this world, we get that wisdom for ourselves. This is the benefit to us. As the spirit moved in the life of Solomon to give his son wisdom for life, we now receive that life through the Word of God and listen to these words. My son, give attention to my words and climb your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight, keep them in the midst of your heart. So they are life to those who find them and help to all their body.

Watch over your heart with all diligence. Let that grip you for a moment. Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put give you a speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways be, will be established. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Turn your foot from evil. If you notice Solomon spoke to his son about his eyes, his ears, his hands, his feet, and his heart. Your children, if they, if you were raised in Sunday school, you probably learned that little song. Be careful, little eyes, what you see, for there's a father up above looking down the tender love.

Be careful, little eyes, what you see, and then be careful, little eyes. Be careful. Solomon, they're ever going to, I can tell you that. They're not going to tell them at Stanford or UC Berkeley that they ought to watch what they speak in here and look at because there is a father up above looking down in tender love. And there is a day of judgment coming. And we're going to have to give an account for what we have done with the resources that we have with our hands and feet and mouth and all of that flows from the heart. What God wants us to do this year is to be more concerned about our spiritual heart than any other thing in our life. If you are concerned about changing your ways, you're maybe losing a few pounds or maybe changing the way you eat or anything like that, you need to understand that the greatest challenge of your life is to watch over your heart.

It's the most important thing about you from yet close the springs of life. In 1 Timothy, Paul writes to his young protege, the one to whom Timothy looked to Paul as a spiritual father and Paul says to... Do you know what condition your spiritual heart is in? Are you aware of the spiritual condition of your heart? Jeremiah says that's a very difficult task. He says that the heart is deceitful about all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Who is able to understand their hearts and the real motive behind what their heart does and thinks? The heart, according to scripture, is the center of your whole being. Everything flows out of your heart. Your heart by biblical definition is the whole you apart from your physical nature.

It's all that you really are inside. The center of your mind and will and emotions, the center of your spiritual life and experience and relationship with God is where you experience the joys and sorrows of life where you can connect deeply with your wife and with your children and with the living God. It's where you encounter God or as one person who said that the heart is where life makes up its mind. It's the most important part about you and yet no one can see it except the living God. He's the only one who can look into your life and actually see the true condition of your heart. Solomon says elsewhere in the book of Proverbs, for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. He is not what he looks like.

He is not what his title is. He is not what his possessions are, but he is as he thinks in his heart. Imagine how terrifying it would be if I said to you, we have just purchased a most amazing piece of technology, and as I point this device at you, the truth thoughts of your heart are going to be displayed upon this screen behind me. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be for you to control your mind and to control your wishes and desires and thoughts? And yet God says that's what you really are, is what your heart thinks. Our heart is our control center where all the decisions of life flow out of. And for these reasons, Solomon warns his son and God warns us, watch over your heart with all diligence, or from it flow, the springs of life.

Above all else, guard your heart, as the NIV says, guard your heart for it is the well spring of life. Two major implications of this passage, the first is that your heart must be the focus of your life. If you're going to live life well, you must focus on your heart. And not on the peritial things of life, the passing, momentary things of life, that this world puts so much stock in, above all else, he says, with all diligence, the New American sense. The Hebrew quite literally says this, with all watchfulness, continually watch over your heart. In other words, this is the high priority that Solomon is giving to his son. In all of life, no matter what you do or where you go, make sure with all diligence, with great watchfulness, you watch over your heart.

Do this one thing and keep doing this one thing throughout your life. It's the most important habit that you can form. It's the most important discipline that you can develop in your life, is to watch over your heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, Jesus said, the mouth speaks. You know there's coming a day when what comes out of my mouth is going to reveal the true nature of my heart and I won't be able to hide it unless I die suddenly. But if I die, like if I go through life like most of us will, there's going to come a phase in my life when I'm not going to be able to shield the true thoughts and desires and wishes of my heart. And on my deathbed, what comes out of my mouth is going to reveal the true condition of my heart.

One of the most beautiful things about some people is they have not learned, especially children. They just have not learned to not speak the truth that's in their heart. But so scary thing in the world for us adults who've learned to speak in a way that reveals what we, to project an image that we want projected to other people rather than speaking the truth of our heart. God has a better plan. His plan is better than shielding and hiding the true nature of your heart and that is to get your heart in such a condition that you wouldn't mind for people to know what was really in there. The next implication is this, that your heart must be watched. In March 7, Jesus said what, and they were, the incident in March 7 was that the Pharisees said to Jesus, why don't your disciples wash their hands as the tradition of the elders has been established?

In other words, there should be a ceremonial washing of the hands before you eat. This wasn't a requirement of God, it was a requirement of the scribes, the rabbis. And so they asked Jesus, why, why doesn't your disciples follow? Why don't your disciples follow this tradition? And Jesus says this to them. That comes out of a man is what unclean, get that, it's not what goes in a man he goes on for, from within, out of men's hearts come either thoughts, listen to this list that Jesus gives of what comes out of the heart of men. He ever had somebody do something horrible and they said, I don't know where that came from. Maybe somebody uses a word that seems totally out of character and they say, I don't know where that came from.

Well, Jesus tells you where it came from. He says, out of men's hearts come evil thoughts. Evil immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, ludeness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly, all these evils come from inside and make a man unclean. That's where it comes from, out of the heart. And therefore Solomon says to his son, son, watch over your heart because your heart is going to be revealed in your words. Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah says, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? And then the answer comes, I, the Lord, search the hearts, I test the mind. Quite literally, I test the kidneys, I test the deepest part of a man.

God knows what our motives are. He knows what our thoughts are. He knows what our desires and wishes are. He knows the truth about us. In Proverbs 23, listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. That word direct is a very strong word. In fact, it's in a form in the Hebrew language, in the Piero imperative, which isn't that wonderful to know you can put that in your notes, but it is a, it means it implies this. This is a strong and powerful imperative, a strong command to us. So straight on the path, lead your heart, direct your heart, advance your heart in the path that it ought to go on. In other words, it's not going to happen of itself. You're not going to drift towards obedience to the path.

You're not going to drift onto the path of righteousness and faith and obedience to God's word. It's going to be something that you will have to direct your heart to do. And so Solomon says to his son, be radical about this, direct your heart, point your heart in the right direction, and do it every day. Only God can change the heart. He does that through the great work of regeneration, but we are responsible to direct the heart. That's your responsibility. Where are you going to direct your heart this year? And where is your life going to be directed as a result of it? Direct this. An undirected heart drifts into various different things. No, Solomon speaks about this in Proverbs. It drifts into a deceitful heart.

He says there is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil. Those who don't direct their heart in the way of righteousness will have a heart that drifts towards deceit. They will not be truthful in their relationships and their conversations. They'll put on a front. They'll be hypocrites. They'll put on a mask and pretend to be something that they're not. And that's such a difficult life to live. Secondly, he says it drifts into a prideful heart. And before his downfall, a man's heart is proud. It's what leads to a downfall is pride. Thinking that you are a law unto yourself, that your independent of God's watchful eye. And then third, it will drift into an angry heart, a man's own folly ruins his life, his own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.

Isn't that true? The difficulties of life, the great problem we have is our anger and our anger so often is really anger at God because God has allowed this. When the truth is, my life has led me down this path. Notice this. A directed heart leads to something different, Solomon says, it leads first of all to a peaceful heart. A heart that peace gives life to the body, but indie rots the bones. In other words, envy will have an effect even on your physical nature, but a heart at peace, peace, and who you are in Christ, peace at what God has given to you in your life. God has sovereignly given you certain things and certain assignments, certain strengths and weaknesses and situations in your life.

The man who's directed his heart in the way of righteousness and peace will have peace. And in 30 says it will be a wise heart. My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad. I like to say to young people, every father would say this to his son or his daughter. If your heart is wise, when your children walk in the way of Christ, when your children walk according to the wisdom of the Word of God, doesn't it make your heart glad parents? Nothing like that to see your children walk in the way of righteousness and peace. Just the difference between these two things. The undirected heart is always going to drift in the same direction. If you simply drift this year, you're going to drift towards deceitfulness and pride and anger.

But if you direct your heart in the way, if you watch over your heart, if you guard your heart, you'll experience peace, happiness, joy, wisdom. That's what God promises when we direct our hearts in the way. Why won't religion solve this problem of a heart gone astray? Why is it that we just can't turn to religion in order to take care of the issues of the heart? Well, the reason is that religion is man's attempt to solve the sin problem from the outside. It puts certain restraints about people. It tries to control their externals, and yet there is no heart change. And what Solomon is saying is the real issue is the heart, the heart from which the springs of life flow. And when you look at what God requires, you realize that external changes aren't enough.

The externals of religion are not enough to please the living God, because God doesn't require stained glass windows. He doesn't require tradition. He doesn't require all of the externals of religion. What he requires is something on the inside of the heart. Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well in John 4, and she tried to change the subject because he was getting very close to her heart, and she says, well, you know, we Samaritan's worship here on this mountain, I'm not guaranteeing, but you worship in Jerusalem. And Jesus says to her, that's not the issue. The time is coming, and now it is, but neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will men worship, but God seeks those who will worship in spirit and in truth.

That can only be worship from the heart, worship from a heart that's set free. The only way that we can direct our hearts is if God changes the heart. Deuteronomy chapter 10, this is what God requires. Tell me if you can pull this off. What does the Lord your God require from you? But to fear the Lord your God? Now that sounds very simple, doesn't it? Fear the Lord your God, but you have to understand in the biblical context what that expression means is, you have to simply put God first over everything else in life. This is what God requires of you, that you put God in a place where nothing else can do well. He is first and foremost in primary in your life, in your priorities and your affections.

That's what it means to fear the Lord. The man who fears the Lord like Abraham feared the Lord is willing to offer up the most precious thing in his life if that's what God requires. To fear the Lord, to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that's all he requires. Well, I don't know if you're like me, but I'm old enough to know that I've got a heart that wouldn't do that no matter how hard I tried, apart from divine intervention. God's got to do something. In Deuteronomy 6, God says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. You know what that expression means with all your strength?

Have you ever thought about those three things? Do you love God with all your heart? And most of you would say, well, you know, that is really my desire. I want to love God with all my heart. I don't always do it right, but I try. What about loving God with all your mind? What does that mean? How do you love God with all your mind? It's a wonderful book I written by JP Morgan called Loving God with all your mind you ought to read. Because it deals with this issue. Are you using your mind to love God? Are you part your brain in order to be a part of the church? Do you know that God wants you to use your mind to love Him? If you're in school learning science and philosophy and history, you're to do that as an expression of love for the living God, you're to love God with all your mind.

And with all your strength, that expression, all your strength means that you love Him with all of your human talent and abilities. Are you an artist? Then you're to love God through the expression of that ability that God's given you. Are you a carpenter? You ought to build as an expression of the love of God. You're an iron worker, you're supposed to work with iron, use your strength as an expression of your love for God. Now that's a great calling, isn't it? That none of your life has wasted that every part of your life is to be done as an expression of your love and devotion to the living God. Romans chapter 10, it says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, that's a wonderful thing.

To confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. You know, there's a lot of people who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and they've never treated Him as Lord, and they've never walked with Him. They've made some kind of public profession, but never had they walked with Him. But notice the verse doesn't stop there, it says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God is racing from the dead, you will be saved. In other words, there's got to be a heart decision. When you look at these requirements and God has placed upon us, you realize that we have a big problem that God is asking us and requiring of us, demanding of us, a function of the heart. He demands that we do something with our hearts, with the deepest level of who we are.

How can we possibly do that? The Old Testament, the people of God continually fail to live up to their commitments to the living God. God said to them one time, all that you had a heart to obey me. Do you think he would say that to you today, all that you had a heart to obey me? As much as you talk about obedience, this is what I imagine saying to me, as much as you talk about obedience to me, all that you had a heart to obey me. Well, guess what? That's exactly what he's given us. That's what he promised in Ezekiel chapter 11, I will give them an undivided heart. The divided heart is what Jesus is talking about in the sermon on the mount when he says, you can't serve two masters. You can't serve God in Maman.

You can't serve God in money and riches. You can only have one master who has absolute sovereignty over your life. You can't have a divided heart. God promises the nation of Israel into all his people who follow in the faith of Abraham. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my loss. They will be my people and I will be their God. See, that's what we need is we need to be as people and he needs to be our God. We need to treat God as our God, the things that we face in this life and the challenge of obeying him and living a life as a disciple.

But that's exactly what he promised and it's what he's delivered to you. The fact that you put faith in Jesus Christ is proof that you have a new heart. But now he calls us to direct this heart that he has given to us. We are called to direct it. He's given us the solution. Jesus came and he fulfilled this promise seven centuries after Ezekiel uttered and wrote these words. Jesus came and fulfilled that promise when he poured out the spirit. Now all who come to him come with a new heart. That's the reason you come is because he gives you a new heart through this great work of regeneration and you turn to him and now it's our responsibility. It's the responsibility of disciples to direct their hearts in the way because he's given you a new heart.

It's so easy. Peter says the second Peter chapter one, it's so easy to forget what God saved you from. Some of you have been saved for so long. You forgot. You have forgotten what it was like before your heart was changed by the Holy Spirit. How many of you have been saved for 50 years? Is anybody here been saved for 50 years? Yeah, there's about six of us been saved for over 50 years and we can all tell you it's easy to forget. It's easy to forget. God doesn't want you to forget. He wants you to direct the heart that he's given you in the way and not let your heart become hardened or angry. Now listen to this. When he says in Proverbs, watch over your heart. The expression here, watch over your heart, which literally this expression is watch with all watchfulness, keep watch over.

It needs to function as a watchman. It needs to function as a supervisor or a guard. This is the word that would be used in Acts 16 of the guard who was watching over Paul and Silas and prison. Remember that? And he was so terrified because it was his responsibility to watch over the prisoners and yet all the gates had been open and the prisoners were free to go. He was about to commit suicide because he had failed to live up to his obligation of watching over the prisoners. That's the word that's used here. God has called you to watch over your heart, to guard your heart as the NIV translates it. With all watchfulness, to watch over your heart, it's the most important thing about you. It's not your looks.

It's not their wrinkles. I thought about getting a facelift. You know, I saw this device the other day. You can just a little portable thing. You can just kind of pull your face back and get rid of all those wrinkles. I had to go get my picture taken the other day for some reason, for a passport. And I had put a little picture in there and the picture looked great. It was from about 15 years ago. My hair was dark. I didn't wear glasses. I didn't have a whole lot of wrinkles. They sent it back to me. They said, well, you have to have a realistic picture. That's literally what they said. I thought they were talking. I thought they were talking about my looks, but actually what they were talking about was the background was wrong.

But when I went down and had my picture taken, I want to tell you there was a marked difference between that picture that I had taken for my passport and the one that I had sent them. Things really changed. I don't know why I said that. I totally lost my train of thought. How do we watch over our hearts? What is it that we need to do to watch over our hearts? Let me give you some habits of the heart that you need to develop this year. You need to encourage. You know, a discipleship and being a disciple and being a discipling of people, we have to be concerned about three major things. We have to be encouraging people, helping people to abide in his word, to love on another, and to bear fruit.

That's the mark of a disciple, isn't it? I mean, everybody knows that. That's what Jesus said, and you're all familiar with that. To abide in his word, to love on another, and to bear fruit. The only way that's going to happen is if you develop the habits of the heart, it's not going to happen without your intention. I've mentioned this before. Some people, there are some people who think they're Christians. I've seen this phenomenon over the years where somebody makes a profession of faith. They begin to seemingly follow Christ, and then after a short period of time, or maybe a slightly extended period of time, they walk away, and never again are they bothered by any compulsion whatsoever to obey the Lord Jesus Christ.

See, what was happening was simply that they had some areas of agreement, but once they got past those areas of agreement and they discovered that what requests required of them, they didn't agree with. They simply walked away from him. They called us to walk as disciples, to walk as those who abide in his word, who love on another, and who bear fruit. That has to be the characteristic of our church. It doesn't matter what we have in the way of a building. We have property paid for, we've gone to the county, we have some approval, we're moving forward, and we may have a building up in a period of months, but that won't make us any more a church. The thing that makes us a church is if we are a people who are characterized by abiding in his word and loving on another and bearing fruit.

That's what he's called us to. You know, we're only going to do that if we have, if we develop in our lives, these habits of the heart that he's called us to. First of all, allow God to search your heart. Now, that may sound very simple, but so many Christians do not do this. They never allow God to search their hearts. Now, by that, I don't mean that he is not sovereign and he doesn't know every inch of your insides. What I mean is you never consciously or thoughtfully or intentionally sit before him and allow him to examine your heart, but how do we do that? Well, we're told in Hebrews chapter four, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. You have to expose yourself to the word and you have to expose yourself to the word as somebody who expects to hear from God. If you simply read the Bible because it's obligatory or because you're in some kind of a group or you are responsible to do that, but you don't do it because you want to hear from God, then you're not obeying this verse, the implication of this verse. Because what this verse is speaking about is when the word of God comes to you as you are in his word and that word speaks to you and it penetrates into your heart and God examines your heart in light of his word and he lets you see the truth about yourself.

It's like speaking a mirror in there and seeing the truth about what's really going inside of your heart. The danger of avoiding the gaze of God through his word is very great. It's one of the greatest dangers we have in the Christian life. The danger of avoiding the gaze of God through his word. You know what I mean by that? You simply don't listen to the word. Even when it's preached, you can turn your ears off, you can sleep. I mean, it's amazing to me. I have this principle. I have this principle. I follow up. I see three people asleep. We just stop and we get two to go. What's really bad in your home Bible study when you're sitting there and people are 12 feet from you and they fall asleep.

That's an amazing phenomenon. You know what it's like to avoid the gaze of God in his word. You don't come to it. You don't get up early in the morning and get into it and ask him to speak to you. You don't have a quiet time with God in his word. You don't really listen to sermons. You may listen for a little story here and there or a joke or something like that. But you don't listen to hear God speak to you. It's great danger in that. Proverbs says he who conceals his sins does not prosper but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble. You know what hardening of the heart comes from? Continually saying no to God.

The heart hardens when we have areas in our life where we know that we are being disobedient. We know we have a little area in our life and we don't think it's any big deal. We know it's not according to the will of God. It's not according to his word but we have decided we're not going to mess with that area of our life. That will harden your heart against God. Saying no to God. Hardens the heart. Saying yes to God softens the heart. Listen to these words from First Thessalonians. Paul writes to this young church and says and we also thank God continually because when you receive the word of God on the gospel came to you and we proclaimed it to you which you heard from us you accepted it not as the word of men but as it actually is the word of God which is at work in you who believe.

You see the last phrase there which is at work in you who believe. That expression means it is working powerfully and supernaturally in you who are believing. That's the significance of that phrase. That the word of God works in a powerful way in the lives of those who are believing it. Now that is an active ongoing dynamic kind of thing. In other words the word keeps coming to me and I keep believing it. I keep receiving it and responding to it. He says when that is happening the word of God is actively powerfully at work in your life and you need that. You need the word of God to be actively powerfully working in your life because you're going to face things in life but nothing short. The power of Almighty God at work in your heart is going to prepare you for.

Nothing else will prepare you for it. The second thing is the second habit of the heart that you should develop is hiding God's word in your heart. Psalm 119, David writes, how can a young man keep his way pure by living according to your word? I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your commandments. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now what makes these words especially powerful is this man was a bigger failure than most of us. This man knew what it was like to fail God. This man knew what it was like to be disobedient to his word. He knew what it was like to have a relationship with God and then to harden himself against God and sin in a most gross way because judgment to fall upon the nation in him as well.

And yet he understood this principle and this is why he was a man after God's own heart. Not that he was not a sinner, not that he never failed, but that he understood that the solution was to hide the word of God in his heart, to embrace it, to follow it. This is an active dynamic principle. We have to develop this as a habit of the heart to hide the word of God in our heart. Yeah, you should memorize the word. Yes, you should have it so entrenched within that it comes out when you're under pressure. And when people put pressure on you, what comes out of you is the word of God in its principles. The third is strive for a fully committed heart. Maybe this is one that we neglect the most. Strive for a fully committed heart.

This isn't legalism. This has nothing to do with legalism. This has to do with the pride of people like you and me who know that if God does not in work in our lives, if he does not empower us, we will not be faithful. Second Chronicles 16, what an expression. He says to Asa, the king, who become unfaithful. And he says to him who he had helped before and now he was withdrawing his help because Asa was not believing the word. And he says to him, for the eyes of the Lord reigns throughout the earth, to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. He had strengthened Asa. He'll strengthen you if you are fully committed to him. So the spirit of God is not going to empower you to be disobedient to Christ.

We believe in spirit, filling. We believe every believer is in dwell with the Holy Spirit and he's there to empower you. But he's not going to empower you to be disobedient. He's not going to soothe your heart in your sin. He's not going to give you peace and being a rebellious son. He's going to grieve in you, turn your heart back to him, but as you are committed to him, he will empower you to do what you know you are not capable of doing in your own strength. These are the habits of the heart. We need to establish inner lives this year. Allow God to search your heart. When you come to sit under the word, come prepared, prepare your heart. I want to tell you, I think it's folly. I think it is absolute folly for people to stay up on Saturday nights and indulge themselves in everything that will keep them from having a sharp and ready mind when they sit under the word of God on Sunday mornings.

Now, I suppose what we could do is move church to Saturday at 6 in the evening. But it amazes me. The people I've been told this, the person can't stay awake in church, how come? You know, Saturday nights we stay up and watch movies till 230. Kind of be kidding me. Is it important to you? It's kind of be important to you if you're a disciple of Jesus Christ to sit under his word, to expect that God could take a cracked pot like me and to deliver his word, and that his word would actually come to you, that the Spirit of God would actually take his word and cause it to penetrate your heart, to speak to you, that you could hear God speaking. Prepare your heart for the word. Be in the word every day.

Allow God to search your heart, expect into. When you come to the word, as you read his word, I was reading in gospel of Matthew this morning in my Bible reading. And as I read those, that passage in this description of the teaching of Jesus and his words and the way he handled people, God spoke to my heart about me, and about my needs and about needs, areas of repentance in my life that I need to carry out. He searches our hearts. Hide God's word in your heart. Be in it so much that you can quote it. Let it flow out of you. Embrace it that much and then strive for a fully committed heart. You know the areas where you're not committed. You know the areas where you struggle. You know God can change that.

He can change it. He can change your heart and he can do it in all kinds of ways. He'll bring difficulties in your life. They're so severe. It will drive you to pray. Judy and I learned how to pray like we never learned how to pray before just a few years ago when he drove us through the circumstances of our life where our life was characterized by prayer, morning, noon and night. He'll drive you to that because he wants you to develop these habits of the heart to be fully committed to him. Hebrews chapter three, the right of Hebrews writes these words. So as a Holy Spirit says, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. See if you're hard in your hearts, you won't hear his word.

I can I I experienced it so vividly when I was a teenager in church in San Pablo. We lived there and went to a little church, the church of God in San Pablo. And I can remember in as a as a sophomore in high school, then say for several years, I remember going to church and I knew that God was going to speak to my heart and he was going to the the greeting of the Spirit would just eat me up and I would be motivated to have a heart of repentance towards him. And I can remember trying to steal myself against that, trying to harden my heart so I wouldn't be touched by his word. And I remember him breaking it. It was in that church and the the altar of that church. We had an altar service after every meeting and we'd all go up and pray and I can remember at that altar one night when I was 14 years old bowing at that altar when God convinced my heart, scared me to death, that he wanted me to give my life to the ministry of the word.

That was crazy. As a 14 year old boy, I didn't want to go through that and I didn't want to go through a life I feared. But he broke me, the word of God broke me. Came to us. I couldn't harden my heart. He just wouldn't let me. And you know, the right of Hebrews appeals to you. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts against his voice as he speaks to you. He goes on a later seat to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelievable heart that turns away from the living God, but encourage one another daily as long as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. San is so deceitful. What a robber it is. What a deceiver it is. It's like these marketers that call you up on the telephone.

They lie and deceive. They try to get your money and what they're offering you is thin air. Sin is a deceiver. God is truth. And he wants your heart. That's all. Just your heart. Give him your heart. That's right. Father, how grateful we are that we can gather like this is the people of God as disciples of Jesus Christ to encourage one another to incite one another to love and good deeds to band together to hear your words speak to us. We pray, oh God, that the spirit now would take your word and drive it home to our hearts, cause us to turn and faith to you, we pray. I pray that this year would be a fruitful year in our lives that we would be a people characterized by those who abide in your word and love one another, bear fruit.

We pray that that would be the kind of church that we are, Father. We desire that and we ask you for it. We ask you, Father, that we would be so motivated to that that we would develop these habits of the heart. We pray that night that 2002 would be a year of great blessing and enrichment. And we face challenges that we would manifest bold faith in Jesus Christ that you would make us bold witnesses for him in this community. We pray this in Jesus name and for his glory. Amen.