GUARD YOUR TIME BY GUARDING YOUR HEART
SJCA Breakout group • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRO
Get to know them some, what have they learned this week? What has stuck out to them? What has challenged them?
Share about growing up at SJCA
Little Red School House > Elementary > Middle School (walked the same halls as them) > High School
I have been where you have are. Literally
I have been where you have are. Literally
I remember growing up not wanting to wait to grow up! Like I wanted to be grown up so bad! Anyone with me?
Today we are going to look at primarily 3 scriptures
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
But before we get into the nitty-gritty of what these verses talk about, I want to encourage and maybe challenge some of you.
When I was in high school I had friends that did not make the most of their time. By that I mean they didn’t make Jesus a priority in their life.
They would come to school, go to bible class, go to chapel. and knew all the right answers to all the right bible questions.
But their heart was not in it. They did not care about who Jesus was and what he had done for them on the cross.
You guys are smart, and I bet you know a whole lot about the bible.
But their may be some of you in this room that don’t care for a single thing that is happening this week. You don’t care for a single thing that anyone has to say about the bible.
So for you these next few moments won’t matter to you. But I believe what the bible has to say about how we spend our time doesn’t just effect right now but it has the potential to effect the rest of your life.
If that’s you, I know you don’t know me very well, we just met a few minutes ago, but I know you. I walked the same halls you do. I’ve been where you are now.
So my challenge for you is for the next few moments we are in here to lock in and listen. No, really listen to what the bible has to say about our time.
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Above all else - It’s saying this is really important. MOST important
We need to care about what’s going on in our hearts so much that we guard it.
We guard valuable things
We put locks on our houses because they are valuable.
If you have something really expensive or valuable to you- you put it in a safe.
What Scripture says about our heart it not just that we should guard it, it also gives reason of why.
YOUR HEART IS THE SOURCE OF YOUR WANTS AND DESIRES.
YOUR HEART IS THE SOURCE OF YOUR WANTS AND DESIRES.
It says, EVERYTHING YOU DO FLOWS FROM IT
Every thought and every action comes from your heart.
2 cups of water, one with lid and one without.
The same is true with our hearts, if we are not careful, if we don’t guard it, things get into it that we don’t want.
When this happens, it effects our thoughts, which impact our actions which change our future.
The truth is…
YOU DO WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART or YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT THE MOST.
YOU DO WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART or YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT THE MOST.
Listen to how Jesus talks about our hearts and what they produce
35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Jesus is saying that if there is good in our hearts it produces good wants and desires. You do good things. But the inverse is also true too. If bad is stored in our hearts we end up doing bad things.
We might be able to fake good decisions for a minute, but in the end you will end up doing whats in our hearts.
Examples
1. If i want to live a healthy life but also want COOKIES all of the time one thing is going to win out. Either I have to say no to cookies or no health
2. You might enjoy video games, an you don’t want to get in trouble or be tired all day… so eventually you turn the game off to get some rest. Well… maybe not because you want to game more!
3. Or maybe you want to do well in SCHOOL but you also want to hang out with your friends. You have to weigh the situations out and eventually you will do the one that matters the most to you.
14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
What’s in our hearts can lead us to sin. That’s why its so important that we Guard what comes into our hearts hearts.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
One way of guarding our hearts is by not copying the behaviors of this world.
AKA - We will look different. We will make different choices because our mind and hearts will be transformed by the Lord.
If we don’t bad things will come into our hearts and we will end up doing things and being places we never wanted to go.
If you copy what everyone else is doing you will not end up in a healthy spot.
We don’t copy the behaviors by letting God transform you
Okay but how?
By changing the way you think. - in order to act differently you need to change the way you think.
Your mind is the source of your thoughts. if you want your heart to desire different things, then you have to think different thoughts.
How does this happen?
It starts with not copying what everyone else is doing… It starts by guarding what comes in.
It starts with not copying what everyone else is doing… It starts by guarding what comes in.
But the truth is you can’t make good thoughts and desires happen. That is the work of God. It happens by the Holy Spirit produce it in you.
Listen to the Scripture. Let God transform you!
The truth is he wants to! Thats his heart! Not to change you because he wants to make you into something different but he wants to give you an actual life. One full of excitement, substance, meaning.
God’s will - God’s will is good and pleasing and perfect. Thats what i want. I hope you do to. but only you can answer that.
If you want to know what Gods will for your life is…
God’s will is not found in copying…
God’s will is found in seeking God.
God’s will is found by listening to the Holy Spirit and letting the spirit guide you into all truth.
God’s will is found by putting yourself before God and letting him transform you.
Notice he doesn’t say we transform ourselves by trying really hard. Thats not what Scripture teaches.
But there is something you can do. You can put yourself before God… and he does the transforming work.
