Be On Guard

Prov 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. 24 Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. 25 Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. 26 Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. 27 Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.

1 Cor 16:13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. 14 And do everything with love.

The title of today’s message is “Be on Guard”.

There’s a children’s song that says, “Oh be careful little eyes what you see, oh be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love, oh be careful little eyes what you see. It goes on to say be careful little ears what you hear, be careful little tongue what you say, be careful little hands what you do and be careful little feet where go. It all comes down to this, what you put or allow in is what is going to come out, especially in times of pressure.

So why do you suppose that song is taught to the children? Because we want them to be aware as early as possible that what they learn and are exposed to will stay with them forever and the things we learn in childhood are very hard to overcome in adulthood. Not impossible, but very hard.

How many of you were told as a child you had to eat everything on your plate before you could leave the table? We know why, because for some, our parents struggled just to put food on the table so you sure weren’t going to waste it. Others heard, there are starving children in Africa, you’d better be glad you have that food—now eat, eat it all. How about, if you eat all of your food you can have dessert, but you don’t get dessert if you don’t eat all your food. Now, how many of you have grown up only to find yourselves in a daily struggle with food, trying to control your weight, your high blood pressure, your diabetes, your cholesterol, and dealing with your aching joints? One more ladies, who eats what’s left of dinner while you’re cleaning the kitchen because it’s not enough to save but you feel guilty throwing it away? Let me help you out, throw it away.

Millions of men and women struggle with pornography because sex sells. You’ve seen the car and beer commercials with women in bikinis and the food commercials with eye candy for men and women. Personally, if you’re working with my food, I’m going to need you to be completely dressed. Be careful little eyes what you see.

We see and hear things that desensitize us to what’s going on around us. Video games now have a rating on them – rated M for mature. TV shows like Family Guy and Archer are animated but far from appropriate for kids. Be on guard.

There was a time when the song “Grazing in the Grass” wasn’t played on the radio because it referred to marijuana. Now, not only can you turn on your radio and hear explicit lyrics, but you can see the videos that go with those lyrics on MTV, VH1, BET, On Demand and YouTube will get you to what you want to see in as many versions as you want to see it – be on guard.

If you’re not careful; if you fail to stay humble, you can be like some singers, actors and preachers and get caught up in the hype and start to believe your own press. Preachers and pastors fall into the enemy’s snare, the snare he sets using women and men. These women and men think they’re drawn to the preacher, when really what they’re seeking is the power of the Holy Ghost. Or they’re merely there to destroy the witness, to demolish the messenger’s ability to be ye holy as Christ is holy. Or even worse, it’s the messenger who abuses their position of power and takes advantage of men and women, boys and girls, leading them down a path that God never intended them to take.

God’s messengers are falling into the despair of alcohol; drinking on a daily basis, telling themselves and others it’s just to take the edge off after a hard day’s work, it’s just so I can relax. Prominent women are coming forward talking about their alcohol addiction that started with wine, because you see if it’s just wine or beer it’s not as bad. Right? How many of you know that that’s what the enemy wants you to believe?

Then there are those who have become dependent on drugs, drugs to get up in the morning, drugs to make it through the day and then more drugs to sleep at night. It may have began innocently enough, the opioid epidemic began for many when they were prescribed medication for an injury and became addicted. Some turned to drugs to dull the hurt and pain of their lives and still others were thrill seeking and now not only is the thrill gone, so is their wife, their husband, their home, their job, and everything they held near and dear.

In our Scripture text, Solomon warns to guard your heart above all else. Why your heart, why not your mind? Because your heart is the depository of all wisdom and the source of whatever affects your life and your character. See, you really don’t know what’s in a person’s mind, but given time you can see what’s in their heart. It shows in what they do, what they say, and how they treat others. Do they do what they do without complaining, without fussin’ or cussin’. When someone says something about them to someone else and the response is oh I don’t believe that, it’s the heart they’re giving testimony about.

Guard your heart. When you guard something, you protect it at all costs. To guard is to keep something from danger, watch over and preserve it. Now when you apply that to your heart, Solomon is not referring to the physical heart that pumps blood through your body, He’s talking about the inner man and woman, your mind, your will, your thinking, the very core of who you are. Guard that inner man and woman with all diligence – protect him and her from the things that will seek to destroy you at the very core of who you are. If Satan can get to your core – if he can get you thinking right is wrong – like standing against homosexuality and gay marriage is being intolerant and hating people; or get you thinking wrong is right like shacking up or sex before marriage is just trying it out to make sure you’re compatible; he can get you started down a very slippery slope.

You want your spring to be pure? You want your character to be that which represents Christ? You want your nature to be emulated? Then be on guard.

Be on guard by avoiding perverse talk and corrupt speech. You start out in your prayer circle just bringing up situations to pray about for people then all of a sudden, you’re discussing the person, adding your opinion and what started good—prayer—has now turned to gossip. Oh be careful little tongue. We can slide real quick because what’s in us will come out and try as we may Paul summed it up best when he said in Rom 7– So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. He goes on to say “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

Anybody ever feel like this, you try so hard to get along with someone and it seems like everything you say is misinterpreted, everything you say is wrong and you can’t win for losing. You want to say the right thing, you want to do the right thing, you want to diffuse the situation, but nothing is working. Can I tell you why – let me help you – the problem may not be you – it could be you, seek first to understand, then to be understood, but if you are sincerely trying to work the problem out and nothing is working; the problem could be the other person.

What they hear may not be at all what you’re saying. Sometimes you may just need to walk away and pray so you can guard your heart – guard your inner man or woman so you don’t lose your mind and go off and hurt somebody. Guard your inner man so your outer man doesn’t lose control and cost you your life. Prisons are filled with people who didn’t guard their heart, leaving wakes of devastation, hurt and heartbreak in their path. Above all else guard your heart because it determines the course of your life. Be careful little hands what you do.

Avoid perverse talk – perverse talk you know, the harmless banter and sexual innuendos between coworkers – or is it? Adultery starts in the heart long before it gets to a physical act. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re married, it is not ok to talk about the intimacies of you and your spouse with a person of the opposite sex. The marriage bed is undefiled and what does or doesn’t go on between you and your mate is just that, between you and your mate. You want to spice things up – go to the Word of God – that’s right it’s in there. Read the Song of Solomon, get you a translation that breaks it down and know it’s not a super deep, spiritual and figurative book, it means what it says. It’s not ok to sit around telling or listening to sexual jokes – they call it a hostile work environment – but more than that as Christians we are not to engage in perverse talk and corrupt speech, no matter where we are. Be careful little tongue what you say, be on guard.

What are you saying about your boss, your teachers, your leaders? Is it uplifting or is it tearing them down – is it corrupt communication. If they heard you say it would they be happy, relieved, upset or would they fire you? And even if they don’t hear it, the Father up above is looking down in love. There are some things you just don’t say – ask anyone who has ever made a threat against a government official. There is a limit to your freedom of speech – you can say what you want but be prepared for the consequences. Better yet, heed Solomon’s advice and stay away from corrupt speech.

Oh be careful little eyes what you see, look straight ahead, watch where you’re going, and make a straight path for your feet. Keep your eyes on the prize and remember, the most direct and shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Don’t veer to the left or to the right. If God has given you a direction in which to go – go, don’t let anyone come and knock you off the path He has set for you. His way and plan are perfect – we don’t need to rework, reroute, or revamp it. He makes the crooked places straight, the rough places smooth and He doesn’t need our input.

Not only is His plan perfect, but it’s safe – He keeps us from dangers seen and unseen. We don’t know what’s around the corner, but He’s seen into our future and made provisions to keep us safe. There were many reports from people about the day 9/11 happened, they were people who would’ve been in one of the towers or the Pentagon but they lost their keys; they went for donuts; their child got sick or they had a school meeting. It was their birthday and they were off, someone died and they were at the funeral or they left the building to go somewhere and were in the parking lot instead of the building when the plane hit. He makes our way safe. As much as I hate being late and as much as possible try to avoid it, it just may be in the plan of God that day.

And the last thing Solomon tells us in this passage is don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.

God has given you a plan and direction, you’ve prayed about it, you’re sure that it’s God’s plan for your life and you start on the path, but here comes Pookie and Shanéné – they’re telling you oh baby you look good, you are finnne come here let me talk to you and all of a sudden, you’ve strayed off your path. It’s not that a man or woman isn’t in the plan, it just may be that it’s not Pookie or Shanéné, because Pookie or Shanéné are married; Pookie or Shanéné can’t travel the road God has for you; and Pookie or Shanéné are there to destroy the plan instead of helping you to reach the goal.

Maybe it’s Ray Ray or Mae Mae who says come here and try this, take a hit, try it, you’ll like it and now you’re strung out on drugs or alcohol. Do you not know that your body is the temple of God, it’s not ok for you to put any and everything into it? You were bought with a price and the price was the very life of Jesus Christ, the Son of the True and Living God. The perfect sacrifice for you and me. God’s perfect plan included redemption. Jesus was not the backup plan. God knew we would fall – He knew we would give in to temptation and before you say I’m not so bad, remember sin is sin – there is no big sin and little sin, God hates all sin and will not dwell in an unclean temple.

Evil comes in all different shapes and sizes, it comes in various packages, it presents like a great idea or may seem like a blessing. There is a way that seems right to man but, in the end, leads to destruction.

• It may seem like a great business venture, but what you can’t see is the person asking for your money is involved in a pyramid scheme. Don’t follow evil.

• She may seem like a friend who is trying to help you restore your marriage, but in reality, she taking notes on what your husband likes and doesn’t like because in the end she wants your mate for herself. Don’t follow the advice of evil.

• The car may have a great paint job on the outside, but the engine is about to give out and the dealer knows it. Don’t fall for evil.

Not only does Solomon tell us to guard our hearts, Paul tells us to be on guard. Be on guard because the enemy desires to sift you like wheat. When you’re weak in the mind, the enemy can trick you into believing things that are not true about people and about God. He’ll try to tell you God doesn’t love you because He hasn’t answered your prayer or because he told you no. When your mind is weak the enemy will tell you that when someone hits you, it means they love you.

When you’re weak in your body, you’re more susceptible to sickness and disease. Keep your body strong, watch what you eat and exercise.

And when your heart is weak, it affects your character. You’re apt to be more selfish. When your heart is weak, so is your faith. You can’t stand firm in your faith, to know that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He said He will do. The faith to know that not only is his plan perfect, so is his timing. When your faith is strong, when trials and tribulations come, you’ll be able to get through it because you know God’s got you.

When you know God is with you, that He’s leading you, you can be courageous. Anyone ever had a little more courage when you knew mommy or daddy were there to catch you. Or you had an older brother or sister or a friend who had your back, so you weren’t so afraid to face the neighborhood bully. That’s all Satan and his imps are, they’re neighborhood bullies, but you can be courageous because you have the God who’s never lost a battle with you. And because God is with you, you can be strong. He will gird you up so you can brace for the storm, whatever the storm may be.

And finally and most importantly, do everything with love. When you do what you do out of love and not for selfish reasons, not for recognition, not for fame, not for fortune, not so they will owe you, it’s then that God will honor your doing. Why you do, what you do is as important as doing what you do.

Jesus did what He did because he loved us while we were yet in our sins. There was nothing we’d done or can do to earn what God gave for us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Eternal life in heaven with God, where there is no darkness, or pain, or sickness, or sorrow, or tears, because God shall wipe away every tear from your eye and we will rejoice always.

Jesus did his part, now will you do yours? It’s simple, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

And so we pray, Father God, I believe in my heart that you raised Jesus from the dead; Jesus I give you permission, please come into my heart and be Lord of my life. I give my life to you, use me for your will, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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Remember, be on guard because the enemy is roaming to and fro like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, don’t get separated from the group and let him destroy you.