Guarding Your Heart : Biblical Wisdom for Emotional and Spiritual Health

And this morning, we’re continuing our series on Proverbs, God’s wisdom for living. And today our message is entitled, Guarding Your Heart, Guarding Your Heart. We’re looking at different passages of scripture from Proverbs 3 to Proverbs 4. If you stand with me this morning, we’re going to read Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, Proverbs 4, 23, and then Matthew 5, 8. Praise the Lord. We stand because we believe in the Bible. We believe that God’s word is powerful. It’s like a double-edged sword. The Bible says about itself that it is God-breathed. And we believe that. So we stand to honor God’s word. Let’s read Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. And then Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23, above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. And then I want to read a passage in the New Testament, the words of Jesus, Matthew chapter 5, verse 8, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you that you care about our hearts. You want us to be healthy. You want us to be whole. You want us to have a pure heart, a healthy heart, a heart that’s filled with your word, a heart that’s filled with your thoughts. Lord, I pray that you would do a work today in the hearts of your people. Lord, I pray that where there’s offense or bitterness or wounds or hurts, I pray that today would be the beginning of healing. That we would be able to forgive and let go of the past. That we would be able to find a new way to think, a new way to go about life as we allow your Holy Spirit and your word to be applied to our hearts. Lord, I’m believing for a great work in many, many people’s lives, in the area of their heart, their inner person. Lord, I’m believing that you’re going to bring healing to hearts today. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen. You may be seated. God bless you. So again, we’re going to be primarily in Proverbs chapter 3, Proverbs chapter 4 today, as well as a number of other scriptures. The heart is mentioned 800 times in the scripture, but of course it never refers to the literal physical pump that’s pumping your heart. It’s always figurative. So when the Bible talks about the heart, it’s really talking about your inner person, the place of your willpower, the place of your desires, your passions, your emotions, or some say your affections. And that’s why in John chapter 14, verse 15, when Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. What he’s saying is when the word of God and the Holy Spirit does a work in the area of your loves, of your affections, of your passions, of your desires. In other words, when the word of God and the Holy Spirit is applied to your heart, if you love me, then you’ll keep my commandments. And that’s the work of the gospel. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s the work of God’s word. God’s word comes into our heart and he transforms our heart so that we are then empowered to live for the Lord. I began to look through the book of Proverbs for this, this word heart. So Proverbs three, and we’re not going to read all of Proverbs three and four this morning. Perhaps it would be good for us to do that. But if you look just at the first few verses in Proverbs chapter three, you’re going to see heart like three or four times. My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. And of course, in one of our main scriptures this morning, Proverbs three, five, and six, one, we trust the Lord with our heart. We trust the Lord with our inner person. And so this word, this concept heart is throughout the book of Proverbs. It’s in Proverbs 14, 30, Proverbs 15, 13, chapter 23, verse 17. But I think a favorite for many of us is Proverbs 17, 22. I grew up singing this song, a merry heart does good like a medicine. But a broken spirit dries the bones. And so there’s even the idea in Proverbs that Paul really describes it in Philippians four is a heart of rejoicing, a heart that’s filled with joy. When you go around with a heart that is cheerful, it is like medicine for your bones. And where does that come from? It comes from your inner man. It comes from your heart. And the opposite is sadly also true that when I go around depressed, when I go around discouraged, when I go around despondent, when I go around faithless, when I’m just wandering through life, what begins to happen is it affects other areas of your life. What’s going on in your heart can affect your emotions, your physical health, your physiology, your chemistry, and even your spirit. You see, God cares about your heart. And that’s why Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, 8, blessed, oh, the happiness of, right? That’s kind of what that word there means. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Now that word pure there doesn’t mean you have a, that you’re perfect in all you do, but it means you have a heart that is totally 100% moving in God’s direction. You have a pure heart for God. You see King David, you know that story in the Old Testament. He certainly wasn’t perfect in everything he did, but still the Bible describes David as a man after God’s own heart because his heart was always moving towards God. He had a pure heart. The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament more than any other place in the Bible are focused on the heart. In Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says, you’ve heard it said, but I say it unto you. And he’ll quote one of the commandments and then he’ll go to the heart. Jesus was interested in heart health. He wanted his followers to be healthy in their heart. He wanted his followers to have healthy emotions and healthy passions, healthy desires. He wanted us to have a pure heart. Jesus taught us, of course, in Matthew 22 that we, the greatest commandment, we love God with all of our heart. Before we dig into some of the main teachings in Proverbs 3 and 4, I want us just for a moment to think about heart health. And some of the teachings of the apostle Paul, and I’m going to, I’ve got my Bible marked and I’m going to be thumbing through some different scriptures. I shared some of this Wednesday, but I believe the Lord wants me to share it again. You see, Paul taught us that faith and salvation flow through the heart. Ellis mentioned this during worship, that we believe with our heart. And so faith flows through your heart. Salvation flows through your heart. Much of what God wants to do in your life and in my life flows through the human heart. And so it’s also necessary to say that negative emotions flow through the heart. Sinful attitudes flow through the heart. Wrong thinking flows through the heart. And I want you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 26 and 27. In Ephesians chapter 4, the apostle Paul talks about footholds. And here the context is sinful anger. And I’m so thankful that we can be angry. We can be passionate about something and sin not, amen? So when I was a younger parent, if my child ran out in front of a car or put their hand in a fire or stove, guess what? I probably got pretty passionate because I was concerned for my child. And so there is a way to be angry and sin not, but here Paul is talking about the danger of a negative emotion called anger and how that can give the devil a foothold in your life. Let me read it. Starting in verse 26, Ephesians chapter 4, in your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. And verse 27, here’s where I’m headed, and do not give the devil a foothold. You see, Jesus is concerned about heart health. And many of his children are living life at a place beneath where we should be living as children of God. Because we’re allowing our hearts to be held back or burdened or held down by negative emotions that are getting in the way and creating barriers of what God wants to do. Negative emotions like anxiety and fear and lust and envy and jealousy. The New Testament has a whole list of these things. Sinful attitudes, negative emotions, that if we allow them to have their way with us, Paul says it becomes a foothold for the enemy. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3 through 5. Here the word is not foothold, the word is stronghold. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3, for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they are divine power to demolish, what, strongholds. So here’s what I see in God’s Word. Many times we think our emotions are just our emotions. And friend, it is true. Emotions are a gift from God. And many of our negative emotions, like fear or anxiety, are given to us by God to protect us and keep us from harm. So I want to just give an example. I shared this in Sunday school this morning. When I was younger, I grew up in a home that taught me to be afraid of snakes. In fact, mom, if you’re watching, you taught me this. When I was a boy, every time my mom would see a snake, she would scream. And so guess what still happens in my life, even if I don’t physically scream. Every time I see a snake, whether I’m walking on a trail with Jenny or I’m fishing and I’m surprised by a snake, there is a physiological transformation that happens in my body. My pupils dilate. My palms begin to sweat. Even if I don’t scream out, ah, snake, that’s what my physiology is saying. Now you’re saying, now, pastor, does that really happen? Yes, it really happens. Do you know that there is someone probably sitting here today that you had a car accident, you know, 20 years ago, but you can be today in similar situations and you still feel fearful or anxious. You see, that’s the way God’s given us these natural fears. But here’s what’s not good. Here’s what God doesn’t want. Today when I see a stick in the grass and it’s not a snake, but I think it’s a snake, do you know that my body has the same reaction as if it was a real snake? My pupils dilate. My palms sweat. I begin to go into a fight or flight. Do I need to get away from this snake or do I need to hit the snake? Right? But there’s no snake there. Friends, that is what the apostle Paul is talking about in your heart, which is the seat of your willpower and your emotion. It’s the place of passion and desire and affection. If we don’t allow the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to heal our hearts, to heal our emotions, then the evil one will come in and use those negative emotions that we’re experiencing in our life as a foothold or as a stronghold in our life. It gives the enemy access to your life. So friend, let today be the day that you allow the Bible, God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit to deal with anxiety. I’m praying for healing for you. It’s okay to be afraid. Those things are natural. It’s not okay to live in constant anxiety so it immobilizes your life and you can’t be the child of God that God’s calling you to be. Young man, don’t allow the negative emotion and the sinful attitude of lust. Young lady, don’t allow the negative attitude or sinful attitude of envy or jealousy to master your life so that now that’s what’s leading you, that’s what’s controlling you, and you can’t be the child of God that God wants you to be because you’ve given the enemy a foothold, a stronghold in your life. Church, God cares about your emotional health. God cares about your emotional and mental health. He cares about your heart and I’m believing today God’s going to set somebody free of anxiety, of fear. The Bible says, God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind. Romans 8, verse 217, God is not the author of anxiety and so if we’re going through life today and we are just upset and anxious and fearful, even though it’s just a stick, there’s no snake in the grass, but still you’re having this physiological upset, friend, you need to allow the Holy Spirit to bring healing into your life so that you can be healthy and you can become the child of God that God is calling you to be. And Paul tells us how to do this in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 through 20, where he says, put on the full armor of God and stand and so how do we bring healing? You see, some spiritual battles are outside of us but many spiritual battles are right in here. Many spiritual battles are right here in the mind and in the heart and we fight that battle by putting on a breastplate of righteousness. That’s the righteousness of Jesus. It’s not my righteousness. But Paul talks in Ephesians, he talks, chapter 6, verse 10 through 20, talks about this breastplate that covers all of your vital organs and especially your heart, wait, your heart, and that breastplate of the righteousness of Jesus. It’s not, I don’t stand in my own righteousness. That’s the beauty of the cross. That’s the beauty of the resurrection. That’s the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that when I come to Jesus, the Father doesn’t see my shortcomings and my sinfulness and my hurts and my wounds. He sees the righteousness of Jesus. And I am justified, I am saved, I am delivered, and now I’m walking as a child of God and I can grow in that righteousness of Jesus. So Paul tells us how to do it. I want to share one more scripture. I know we’re preaching out of Proverbs this morning, but I want to turn to Philippians, chapter 4, Philippians, chapter 4, verse 4 and 6. Paul says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. So how do we, what’s the first step to overcoming fear and anxiety? Be a person of prayer. Take that to the Lord. When I’m fearful regarding one of my children, I go to prayer. When I’m concerned for one of my granddaughters, I go to prayer. When I’m concerned or maybe even a little anxious, friend, I want you to know I’m with you in this. It’s not like I’m preaching this morning saying I’m never fearful, I’m never anxious, everything, me and God’s got a good thing going and no. Week by week, I go through anxiety, I go through fears, I go through troubles, I go through worries. But by God’s grace, I’m not mastered by those things. I can go to prayer is what Paul says. I can pray with thanksgiving and rejoicing and I can trust God that he’s going to meet my needs. And look, look at verse 7, here’s what Paul says happens when we go to prayer with rejoicing and thanksgiving and we make our petitions known to God. Here’s what Paul says. The peace of God which transcends all understanding, here it is, will guard your hearts, will guard your hearts. You see, Jesus is concerned about your heart. He wants you to have a healthy heart. So this morning, I want to share with us five important teachings from Proverbs chapter 3 and Proverbs chapter 4. The first one, and we’ve touched on this as we’ve been working through Proverbs, the first one is simply wisdom comes with reward. There are benefits to wisdom. Look with me at Proverbs chapter 3 verse 1 and 2, my son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring peace and prosperity. And so all of Proverbs chapter 2, for example, is filled with the benefits of wisdom. And Solomon continues this theme throughout Proverbs 3 and Proverbs 4. It’s one of the main themes of the book of Proverbs that there is great wisdom, I’m sorry, there’s great benefit that comes to the one who seeks God, who fears the Lord, who holds God in high regard and races after, runs after wisdom. Are you racing after wisdom today? Are you trying to get wisdom with everything within you? Well, Solomon would tell us, Proverbs teaches us that wisdom comes with great reward. There’s great benefits. And chapter 3, for example, many of the benefits are listed. Long life, favor and a good name, health, financial abundance and blessing and on and on and on. A second truth that’s so important in Proverbs chapter 3 is trust the Lord, trust the Lord. And we know this passage of scripture. Many of us have it on a little like a keepsake at home. We’ve memorized this passage of scripture. Let’s look at it together. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways submit to him or acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. I love the first part, just trust in the Lord. What is trust? Well trust is confidence. Trust is an inner knowing that I know who God is. I know God’s going to come through. I know that I can count on God, that he’s holy, that he’s good, that he’s powerful and that I can always trust in the Lord. One of the ways I look at trust versus faith is faith when I read about faith and especially in the book of Hebrews and the book of James, faith leads me to take action. But when I think of trust, trust leads me to take a nap. Come on church, let’s be real. When I think of this word trust and I love it that it’s trust in Yahweh, it’s not trust in Elohim. So those are the two Hebrew words for God in the Old Testament. Elohim is just the general name for God. Even the pagans used El as their name, their primary name for God in the ancient Near East. And so you’ve got Elohim and Yahweh. And here it’s not trust in Elohim, it’s trust in Yahweh. Yahweh is the Lord God. He is the personal God that came down and created Adam with his own hands. This is the personal God that chose Abram and transformed him, gave him a new name Abraham and gave him the promises that I’m going to bless you and you’re going to be a blessing and all peoples on the planet are going to be blessed through you, Genesis chapter 12. And so I love it here that it’s, we’re not trusting in a distant God, we’re not trusting in an unnamed God, we’re not trusting in an unknown God, but we’re trusting, we have confidence in a personal God. We know his name, we know his character, we know his nature. And friends, this is what it’s all about to walk by faith and not walk by sight. When my circumstances tell me God’s not there and he’s not coming through, anybody had some circumstances like that in life? Yes we do. Yes we do. We have circumstances and situations in life and seasons of our life where we’re like, God, I don’t know what you’re doing and I don’t know where you are. And Lord, I want you to fulfill your promises, but I look at my circumstances. It’s in that moment that trust means I’m going to walk by faith. I’m going to walk trusting in who I know God is according to his word and the promises of scripture. And I’m not going to walk according to what I’m seeing because I may be going through a season right now that’s a season of testing and trial. I may be going through a season right now where God is doing something in me or doing something in someone else and I’m just, God, not seeing what you’re doing, but I’m going to trust in the Lord, my personal God, I know his name, I know his character, I know he’s a promise maker and a promise keeper and I’m going to trust. See when I think about trusting, I really do think about just kind of leaning back in an armchair and saying, God, you got it. You got it. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. So we love the Lord with all of our hearts. We trust the Lord with all of our hearts. Let me say it this way. Trust begins with a healthy fear of the Lord or a high regard for who he is. It grows into faith and eventually trust. I want to have a high regard for God in my life. And there’s sometimes in life when you’re going through difficulties, all you can do is pause and say, well, God, I acknowledge you. I know you’re good. I know you’re there. I just don’t know what you’re up to. I don’t know why life is so difficult. I don’t know why I have to go through seasons of disappointment and discouragement. And so sometimes maybe all you can do in life is say, God, I’m going to acknowledge you. I’m going to fear you. In my heart, I’m going to honor you. But then as you let God work in your life, he will begin to grow faith. I really believe that’s the journey of the Christian life. God is growing faith. He’s teaching you to believe. He’s teaching you to trust in him. When you feel like your needs aren’t met, can you trust the Lord? When you’re feeling like your career is not working out like you thought it would, can you trust the Lord? When there’s more month than money and you’re having trouble paying the bills because you’re raising kids, can you trust the Lord? God wants to build in us a confidence for him where we trust in the Lord with all of our heart. And yes, the proverb goes on, lean not on your own understanding because Proverbs is clear in other places like Proverbs 14, verse 12. There is a way that seems right, but its end is death. That’s Proverbs 14, 12. You see, too often we’re led astray by our own passions, by our own fleshly desires, by our own impulses, or even the rational mind. We can convince ourselves that, well, rationally, this is the logical thing to do, but we haven’t checked in with the Lord. We haven’t checked in with God’s word. There is a way that seems right, but its end is death. I want to just share two scriptures that emphasize this idea of trusting in the Lord. Isaiah 26, 3 and 4, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord, the Lord himself is the rock eternal. And then Jeremiah 17, 7 and 8, but blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit. God cares about heart health, and he wants to grow trust in your heart. He’s planted the fear of the Lord in your heart. He’s planted faith in your heart, and now he wants to grow trust. He wants you to have a trust and a confidence in his goodness and in his power and in his word that nothing can shake. Nothing can shake. And friends, I want to remind us today as a church, even if everything this week goes wrong, we still have heaven. Even if everything in this world goes wrong, even if the person we voted for doesn’t get into office or does get into office, you could be totally upset with world events, but friend, if you’re a Christian, you’re on your way to heaven, and you have the hope of eternal life, and one day you’re going to be skipping and jumping around heaven, talking with Jesus, no more frail bodies, no more sickness, no more sin, it’s going to be good. I can’t wait for heaven. Friend, that’s why I got saved when I was 10. It seemed like a simple deal for me. When I was 10 years old, I said, when I heard the pastor say, you can have eternal life, I said, sign me up. I’m ready. I’ve learned a lot since then. But it still rings true. Jesus said, though you die yet, yet will you live? But as we go through this worldly world, as we go through trial and tribulation and trouble, as we partner with Jesus to bring his heavenly kingdom to a very earthly world, just remember that your hope is heaven, and God is at work in your heart. He wants to build trust into your heart. A third important truth from Proverbs 3 and 4 is also a truth that Jesus taught us. There’s two paths in life. One leads to blessing, and one leads to cursing. Proverbs 4, 18 and 19, I love these two verses. Such a beautiful metaphor of the righteous life. The path of the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. You see, the law of the harvest is always in effect. Galatians 6, 7, and 8. Do not be deceived. Whatsoever a man sows, he shall also reap. I don’t know if my batteries are struggling or what, but I think it’s my unit right here. Did you hear Galatians 6, 7, and 8? Praise the Lord. The law of the harvest is always in effect. The law of blessing and cursing is always in effect. You can walk away from the commands of God, but it’s like a rock. You can’t break the rock. You can only be broken by it. We all live in this world where Deuteronomy 30, verse 19, God said to his people, today I give you life and death, blessing and cursing. It’s the law of blessing and cursing. You can’t really break it. You can’t pretend. You can pretend it’s not there, but it’s always in effect. I want to share two thoughts about that. One, I’m so thankful for the high priestly prayer in Numbers chapter 6, 24 through 26. The Lord bless you and keep you and may his face smile upon you and be gracious to you. There’s one more stanza, but friend, that’s the heart of God. So God tells us there’s life and there’s death, there’s blessing and there’s cursing, but where’s God’s heart? God wants to bless you. He doesn’t want to curse you. He doesn’t want you living under a curse. He wants to bless you. That’s why God said to Aaron, say this prayer over my people, the Lord bless you and keep you and cause God’s face to smile upon you and be gracious to you. God wants to bless you. But the truth is we’re all living in this world where there’s the law of the harvest and there’s the law of cursing and blessing. And sooner or later we get to a point in life where we realize I flubbed up. I want to be blessed, but I’m not walking in a way that pleases God so that I could be blessed. That’s me for sure. At times in my life where I’ve wandered, where I’ve made unwise decisions, I’m so thankful for the wise decisions God has helped me make. But we’ve all got times in our lives where we didn’t measure up to what God wanted for our lives. We missed the mark. You see, the law of blessing and cursing is always in effect. The law of the harvest, you sow this, you’re going to reap that. It’s always in effect. But here’s what else you’ve got to know this morning. That’s why we need Jesus. That’s the beauty of the gospel. I’m not here this morning in a place called a church celebrating Jesus, giving my life to the Lord because I think, well, there’s the law of blessing and cursing and I’ve just always been blessed because I’m a really good guy. Friend, that’s not the gospel. The reality is in all of our hearts, we have areas that are wounded. We have areas that are broken. We have areas that are hurt. Some of you are going to go on a journey of life where it may take decades for you finally to surrender that over to the Lord so that he can bring healing in your life. That’s what the gospel is. The gospel is good news because Jesus came and sacrificed his life on the cross because I couldn’t fulfill the blessings. I couldn’t live up to the law of cursing and blessing. I couldn’t live up to the laws of God. I needed a savior. I needed Jesus in my life to set me free from my own wounds, my own offenses, my own sinful heart, my own sinful attitudes. I needed Jesus to set me free from those things. That’s the gospel. So the law of blessing and cursing is always in effect. God says, go this way and you’ll be blessed. You’ll live. And in fact, the purpose of the Mosaic law in the Old Testament was to point to Jesus, right? So the law tells us what is right and good and moral. The law tells us the blessings of God are right over here. But then our own sinful hearts and our own broken hearts and our hurting, wounded hearts fail us and we end up over here. But friend, no matter where you are in life, no matter where you are in all of that, if you today will say, Jesus, I want you to deliver me. I want you to save me. I want you to heal my broken heart. You know what? He will come in to your life and he will begin. He is the master teacher. He’s the master physician. He will begin to work in your heart and in your mind. He will begin to change you and heal you and transform you and set you free from wrong thinking, from wrong feeling. Remember how I talked about I can still get fearful of a stick in the grass and there’s no snake there. God wants to heal me of that. You’ve got areas of your life today in your heart where there’s no snake, but you’re still getting all worked up. You’re still blowing up relationships. You’re blowing up areas of your life because you’re not allowing the word of God to be the balm of Gilead in your life. The Holy Spirit to be at work in your life, to heal that wound, to heal that brokenness in your heart. I don’t know where I am in my notes this morning. Praise God. All right. There’s two paths in life. That’s where we were. You know that Jesus taught that in the New Testament, Matthew chapter seven. There’s a narrow way. We need to choose that narrow way, but the truth is without the help of the Holy Spirit and the help of Jesus, I can’t choose it. I need the Holy Spirit to do a work in my life. If I let him work in my life, then I can choose the narrow way and I can walk in a way that is blessed by God. A fourth truth is quite simply that wisdom is supreme. Look with me at verse seven, Proverbs three and Proverbs four. There’s so many commands that we are given and not a single one of these commands can I live up to without the help of Jesus. And then in chapter four, verse seven, it says wisdom is supreme wisdom, though it costs all you have. Get understanding. Wisdom is the skillful ability to do the right thing at the right time or say the right thing at the right time. It’s a skill. It’s different than just knowledge. Wisdom is a practical skill. Understanding is more like discernment and insight. It’s moral discernment. But the message of Proverbs here is clear that there’s a lot of important things in life. There are. There’s a lot of things in your life that are important, but more important than anything else is seeking God and seeking wisdom. If you really want to see the goodness of God work working out in your life, you need to seek God and seek wisdom. Again, you’re not going to just stumble into it. You’ve got to seek it. And then a fifth truth. And we’ll wrap up with this truth this morning. And this has really been the message on my heart for today. It comes from Proverbs chapter four, verse twenty three. Guard your heart above all else. Guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. And so I’m I’m praying for all of us. That with the help of the Holy Spirit, with the help of God at work in our lives, that we will guard our heart. Or give attention to your heart. I want to just pause with that for a minute. We can get so busy in life that we’re really not aware of what’s going on with us. I mean, we’re busy taking care of kids. We are busy working. We are busy trying to pay the bills where we’re busy trying to make sure everything is OK for everyone else. But are you are you taking time to know what’s going on in your heart? What’s going on with you? Are you struggling with this emotion or that emotion? Is your heart at peace? Are you content with God? You see, that’s what this idea of guard your heart really means. It means to give attention to your heart. And the point of the proverb is that there’s a lot of things important in life, but you need to give attention to your heart, to your inner person, to your passions and desires and affections and your will, your decision making. You need to give attention to your heart because out of your heart flows all the major issues of life. And this is so true in so many different areas that we could apply it to. But if you’re not happy single, you won’t be happy married. If you’re not happy as a pastor at the church you pastor, you won’t be happy at the next church you pastor. And just on and on and on and on, right? And we see this work out in our lives. We see this work out in other people’s lives. God wants you to take time this week to give attention to your heart, your passions, your desires, your inner, whatever’s going on with you. Sometimes I’m at a lack for words to know how to describe the inner person. But God wants you to take time to get healthy. God wants his word to like be a bomb, like a salve. I’m kind of funny. You know, anytime I scratch my hand, I bleed a little bit. I go get some triple antibiotic and I just rub it on there. Even if it’s a little bitty thing because, oh, I just, I’ve got it. So I just want to rub it on there. I don’t know if you do that. Put a little bandaid on it. I mean, it’s not going to kill me, you know, it’s not a big deal, but I’m very diligent about that. I wonder how diligent we are to allow the Holy Spirit and the word of God to be like a salve on our heart. That takes prayer. It takes time. It takes, you know, Jesus would go and pray by himself in solitary places. The Bible says he would go to a mountainside. Are you taking time to go on a walk, to have some tea, to journal, to read your Bible? Are you taking time to allow the Holy Spirit to say, hey, I see this is going on your heart. Do you know this is going on in your heart? God’s word wants you to guard your heart. I want to read this last portion and then we’ll wrap up in prayer. But in verses 24 through 27, it kind of gives us an idea of how we can guard our heart. So Proverbs 4, 23 is the verse we’re looking at. Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. But then 24 through 27 really helps us understand that how we talk and how we walk and how we live also affects our heart. So verse 24, the Proverbs goes on to say, keep your mouth free of perversity. Keep corrupt talk from your lips. Really interesting here that what we confess, what we profess with our lips, our mouth can influence what’s going on in your heart. So let me unpack that just for a minute. So I think what Jesus would teach us in the New Testament is that sinful attitudes and negative emotions come from the heart. But here’s what happens. If I say one thing 10 times every day, you know what’s going to happen eventually? I believe that. So maybe as a child you had someone, and we don’t want to cast blame on that someone, but maybe you grew up in a home where you were just, you constantly heard you’re not good enough. Like you just never, maybe it was a high performance home and you just, maybe your brothers and sisters got all A’s. And so you just constantly, whether it was getting said or it was getting assumed, something in you was just always saying, I’m not good enough. And then before long, you’re verbalizing it and you’re just saying that. And God says you are good enough, but there’s something in you saying, I’m not good enough. I’m not good enough. Here’s what I’m saying. If you profess or confess the wrong things enough, eventually you’ll believe them. And eventually you’ll build your life on that. So if you confess perversity or corruption, if you confess deception and lies of the enemy and untruths from the culture, let’s say, there’s a lot of untruth in the culture that if you begin to believe that and confess that and profess that before long, you’re going to be living that. Like, let me just, young person, like we might as well just live together because everybody else is doing it. And all of this biblical stuff is just old fashioned and doesn’t work anyways. Come on. That’s where a lot of people are. And if you, if you allow the culture to start convincing you to the point where, Hey, you just start confessing that and saying that before long, that gets in your heart. And then you’re like, yeah, I guess, I guess that that’s just the way to live. And then we lose out on what God wants to do in our life. So we’ve got to talk right. Look at verse 26. We’ve also got to look right. Give careful thought to the paths of your feet. I’m sorry, back up. Verse 25 is what I meant. Okay. So the verses may be a little messed up here, but let’s follow along in our Bibles. Verse 25, let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. And so even where we’re looking can direct our heart. Friend, I want to look to Jesus, right? I want to, he’s the author and the finisher of our faith. I want to look to Jesus. I don’t want to allow my eye to distract my heart. And that’s how sinful attitudes and then sinful behaviors can take root in our heart. When we allow our eye to distract or to redirect our heart. And then verse 27, verse 26 and 27, give careful thought to the paths of your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Keep your foot from evil. So even where we walk, even where we allow ourselves to go can impact our hearts. So I’m encouraging you today, worship team, would you come? I’m encouraging you today to take time in this moment, but also this week, take time to allow the Holy Spirit and God’s word to speak to you about your heart health. Are you healthy in your inner person? Or there’s some negative emotions and some sinful attitudes that have taken root in your heart. God wants to heal those. God cares about your heart. Amen. God cares about the health in here. And if we’re going to be on mission with Jesus, if we’re going to be on mission as a mom or dad, if we’re going to be on mission in college, if we’re going to be on mission at whatever stage of life we’re in, we need to take time and say, Lord, I want to be healthy right here. Will you stand with me this morning? And I want to lead us in prayer. I’m praying that for many of us today, that as we go throughout this week, we’re going to begin to experience new emotional health. God wants us to live in freedom. God wants us to live in health. Will you pray with me, Lord Jesus, I just pray over this congregation today. Lord, I pray that you’d set your children free from negative emotions like lust and envy and jealousy and worry and fear and anxiety. Lord, set us free. Set us free, Lord. Lord, help us to spend time in prayer. Lord Jesus, we’re open to the Holy Spirit doing a work in our hearts. And I pray for health and for healing and for freedom. In Jesus’ name. In Jesus’ name. Amen. I want you to know these altars are open. We’re going to worship the Lord. I’ll come back and close in prayer. We’re going to worship. If you want to step out and pray, someone will pray with you at this altar. But for all of us, let’s just take a few minutes and worship the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us. Hi, I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdell. I’m Pastor Elvis Benes. And we’re from Columbia First Assembly. We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus. Our vision is simple. We want to make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much for connecting with us online. We would also love to connect with you in person. We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School. So if you’re in the central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us. If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments. If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know and we would be happy to engage with you in the comments. We believe God’s doing something special at our church and we want you to be a part of it. We’re a multi-generational church. We have people from all different backgrounds. We’re a church of the Word. We’re a church of the Spirit. We believe Jesus can transform your life. That’s why we’re on mission with Him. And we want to help you know God. We want to help you grow in God. And we want to share hope in our community. So connect with us and we want to connect with you. Awesome. Have a wonderful and a blessed day.