Guarding The Heart

BI: A guarded heart can help us have a gracious spirit and speech.

Our main focus here is to help people see that a judgmental spirit and harsh speech doesn't accomplish the will of God. We will approach this with a positive perspective to keep the focus on spiritual formation

Core Verse: Psalm 19:14

A judgmental Spirit

Dogmatism plus opinion leads to judgment.

Read and research Romans 14.

Matthew 7:1-5

This issue of the heart is an arrogance that we can be in the position of God.

(We can make judgments of of character and action based on scripture. But the key is, we are simply agreeing with the word. However, these judgments still need to be without self-righteousness, not harsh, and not for the purpose of contention.)

Humility is the key. We all have convictions. The word allows for differences in some convictions. But we learn to hold and express these convictions with humility.

Transition: if we guard our heart it will help us have a spirit of grace toward others as God has for us, and can guard us from harsh speech also.

A harsh Speech

Matthew 12:34 If our heart is abundant with God’s will, word, and essentially His grace, then this will lead us to entertain thoughts and make statements that glorify Him.

Ephesians 4:29 Only allow words that build come from your mouth.

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." — Warren Buffet

Illustration of how long it took to build something well know that has now been destroyed. Compare the time.

A person said something about someone else which they could take back. They went to the wise person of the village for advice. She told the person to buy a chicken and pluck it on the way home and prepare it for dinner and return for the answer the next day. When they retuned after following the advice, the wise person told them to now retrace their steps and gather the feathers they plucked. They said that is impossible. The wise person said, correct.

If our actions begin in the heart, and our speech flows out of the abundance of our heart, guarding it is the best way to ensure we glorify God in our lives.

Why would we tear down someone that Jesus died on the cross to save.