Follow Your Heart

ME

Story of Heart leading me astray

What we want may not be the best thing

WE

All have heard follow you heart

Good: helps us figure what we want in life

Maybe a career - or help to make a decision

But should we always lean on our desires

What do you want at your innermost being?

No limitations - what do you want?

IT CAN BE A DOWNFAL

if we ignore all other factors

only thinking about ME - what I want

are desires the most important

As they always the RIGHT answer

Think about a time that it wasn’t

Heart trying to lean us into things not godo

BIG IDEA:

Our heart can lead us astray, but following Jesus never will

?s

God

Beware Your Heart

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

might sound pessimistic

Sin is at our core - we are sinful at the inner most level

makes sense deceitful at heart

Deceitful - our hear is lying to us

it is telling us that things will be the best thing for us - but its not

detrimental to us

Story: Believed Something Deceitful

all desires aren’t bad

they can be good

we CANNOT fully trust our heart - always to be right

not the only means for decision

Transform Your Heart

Matthew 12:33–36 NIV

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 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. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.

Matthew

heart is the core - all we need to know about someone

words carry weight and impact - know heart

What do you talk about the most?

things more interesting and important to us

Need to have a good heart

We can choose to focus on and pour into good heart

Story: “Happy Heart”

Desires aren’t fixed - but we see it that way

God can change the heart - and then the action

obedience - our motivations and desires

Follow Christ

Matthew 16:24 NIV

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Can’t follow heart - what can we follow?

as Christians we need to follow Christ.

take up our cross

Look what Christ did and didn’t do to base our lives

not perfect but aim for his actions

What Jesus did:

righteous anger

felt needs for others

taught and talked with people

resisted temptation

sacrificed for all

Be in the word - study what Jesus did

Cost for following Christ

deny ourselves - our selfish ambitions

go against what friends want

go against what you think you deserve

Live worth living

Story: People who denied themselves

Follow you heart knowing it will lead astray?

YOU

Check Yourself before You Wreck Yourself

evaluate your heart

what is creating our desires

dig deep

self-awareness

Learn how to Follow

not natural

open up scripture what Christ has done

find a mentor - someone to walk with

WE

This is not easy - at odds with everything

effort is going to pay off

Big Idea: Our heart can lead us astray, but following Jesus never will.