It's the issues of your heart, not the circumstances of your life, that determine future boundaries.
• WHO determines if our heart is right? God.
• WE look into the Word of God it and it shows us our real condition.
Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT) Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' [40] The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."
I. An HONORING Heart
1.Is having a heart that CRYS out to God, “YOU GOD are the priority above ANYTHING in my life!”
i. There is no hobby, person, place or thing that has my ATTENTION and FOCUS like God!
2.WORSHIP is the ULTIMATE EXPRESSION of WHAT or WHO you honor.
i. God is my OBJECT of WORSHIP!
1.You can tell this by the LIFE that someone lives…not the way they YELL, SHOUT, or TESTIFY, etc.
3.You GAGE a heart that is HONORING by their LIFESTYLE…not their service!
i. EXAMPLE: Abraham…the FATHER of FAITH…PROVED his faith by his ACTIONS…he left his home to pursue God’s greater purpose for his life and future. He left what was COMFY, ROUTINE and SECURE!
ii. His actions brought HONOR to God.
II. An OBEDIENT Heart!
1.Jesus says it very plainly in John 14 and 15 when he says IF YOU LOVE ME…you will OBEY what I ask.
2.OBEYING God’s Commands are the VITAL SIGNS of our life with Christ!
i. Trained professionals can listen to your heart to tell if you have an irregular beat pattern.
I Samuel 15 God tells Saul to wipe out the Amalekites, but Saul DISOBEYED and spared the enemy King and best of the livestock. God said in verse 10-11 – “I am GRIEVED that I made Saul King because he has TURNED AWAY from me…”
• We need to follow God's simple, clear instructions.
I Samuel 15:22 “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in OBEYING his voice? To OBEY is better than sacrifice.”
3.We are not talking about a GOD of RULES…but a God who is LOVE!
4.By our SINFUL choices we end up crushing and destroying our future.
i. People destroy their family by selfishness, addiction, adultery, lying, stealing, unbelief, etc.
5.It is this simple: IF they would have OBEYED the Word of God and not given in to their desires or handled their pain/hurts by drowning out the problem…then they wouldn't be in their current situation.
i. An OBEDIENT heart is a right heart and a right heart CONQUERS SIN!
6.Back to Saul the King of Israel who just royally messed up his life. Since he did not Honor God, was disobedient, and thankless we see later where he ends up killing himself and committing suicide!
i. This was the "man of God" at one time!
7.WOW - But realize that the failure of his RIGHT HEART hurt more than just him. Because of not having a Guarded Heart…the KINGSHIP passed by ALL of HIS children (Descendants) and went straight to DAVID, a man who wasn't his son but had a surrendered heart before God.
i. Satan wants you to operate in and develop the WRONG HEART!
Proverbs 27:19 “As water reflects the face, so a man’s heart reflects or shows the man!”
• There are things that you can look at…what you SAY…your ATTITUDE, your BEHAVIOR…these SHOW the real you!
• We are to search daily into our lives for the right heart.
I. The DOUBTING Heart.
1.A heart that knows that God is speaking to it and it is UNWILLING to act.
James 1:6 “We must believe and not DOUBT because he who DOUBTS is like a wave of the sea, being blown and tossed like the wind. This man has no reward from the Lord and is double minded and is UNSTABLE in ALL he does.”
2. When a heart Doubts…it simply bounces BACK and FORTH between relying on God and then relying on self.
Jonah 4:1-6 Jonah had God tell him to go to Nineveh, but he RAN and preferred that Nineveh be destroyed instead of Repent. It went beyond disobedience; Jonah wanted HIS WAY and would not YIELD to God!
3.It is impossible to follow the direction of a person who is like this.
How do we AVOID this heart?
#1. What ever God speaks to YOUR HEART will ALWAYS be CONFIRMED by His Word or not!
#2. Once we have God’s promises in our hearts…we MUST ACT on these promises. James tells us that “Faith WITHOUT Action is dead.” This is a heart that TRUSTS!
#3. You must deal with your Doubt.
• A Heart that Trusts God will live in EXPECTATION…not ANXIETY!
The PRIDEFUL Heart!
• You either have a heart that HONORS God or a prideful heart they are exact opposites.
• Pride is the very first sin ever committed by the Worship Leader of God in Heaven…Lucifer…AKA Satan! His Heart was full of HIMSELF! He said IN HIS HEART “I will have the Throne of God.”
• Its about YOU always knowing everything, not needing God’s direction or touch.
• This proud heart can magnify the sins of another and IGNORE the same Holy Spirit showing it in their OWN LIFE!
o It is about you and GOD!
Matthew 23:27 (NLT) "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs-beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity."
• The religious people and leaders (the ones who knew the scriptures and prophecies) had hearts CONTROLLED by pride.
• He said “YOU look GOOD on the outside, but the real you, is DEAD and full of evil on the inside."
Proverbs 6:16-19 puts it this way about a PRIDEFUL Heart…It is @ the TOP of the list for things that God HATES!
• When my heart is messed up I can't function the way God intended.
Here is the thing about GOD that I love…HE IS the SOLUTION for any kind of HEART condition!
NEXT MONTH'S SERMON SERIES
Solid Rock Family Church
Youthrock Teen Ministries
508 Hunters Run Road
Jefferson City, MO 65109
Phone: 573-893-4609
Email: youthrock@srfc.us
http://youthrock.us/media.html for iTunes and Facebook