Tender, Courageous, & Worshipful
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We have not taken an offering in quite some time - there are offering plates in the back of the sanctuary if you feel lead to give financially to the church and to what God is doing here. We stopped passing those plates around when COVID was starting to be a concern, and found that you are all incredibly faithful people, and were going to make sure your offerings were received one way or another. So we have not gone back to passing plates around, but they are there should you need them.
Prayer:
Donnies Family
Russle McClain’s family
This is my last week in the series I have titled Heart Conditions. So far in this series, we have looked at some of the issues that can come up just living this life - that can become really very serious. Like medical heart conditions - spiritual heart conditions must be taken very seriously. Heart Conditions, if left untreated, will draw you away from God entirely. We want to know how to diagnose ourselves, so that when we see these things creeping up in our lives - we know what they are, and how to treat them.
The first week, we looked at the lie the world tells us - that we should “follow our hearts.” And that doing so will lead to happiness. We dug into the word of God to find that the reality is - our heart is deceitful and can not be trusted. Our heart - without any provocation in the world, fails us on two fronts. It encourages us to sin, and fails to encourage us to do good things. Our heart is a liar. The first condition was a deceitful heart. We looked at how to deal with that, and that our primary treatment was to fill our heart with the word of God, and to be on guard for our hearts - to protect them from the world.
The second week we studied pride. I shared that pride is like bad breath, you don’t know you have it, but everyone else does. We looked at how pride can seperate you from the Lord, how the Bible says that God resists proud people. We saw how pride builds up in your heart and leads to worse, to a point that a person turns away from God entirely, because they are so impressed with themselves that they figure out, they don’t really need Him. We found the treatment to be focused on the Glory of God, to be humbling ourselves and asking God to do the same.
The third week we studied greed. We said that greed was the insatiable desire to have more money or possessions for self gratification while ignoring God and eternity. The desire for more. As a heart condition, greed is difficult to diagnose, because while it is easy to see greed in someone who is rich, it is more difficult to see it in ourselves, as our hearts turn away from the Lord and his provision to focus just a little more on ourselves. To treat greed, we have to be okay with discomfort, and we have to cultivate a heart that is content and giving.
The fourth week we studied weariness. And we have been weary. It was just one week ago church that we lay Donnie Taylor to rest. Just one week. The reality is that weariness is very different from the other conditions, in that there is no malice in it - but it will kill you just the same. Outside of these four walls, I spend a great deal of the time that I am ministering - ministering to people who have spiritually died of weariness. Weariness as extreme exhaustion or fatigue, something that you can build up for yourself by doing good things. We talked about how to keep weariness at bay, to seek refuge in the Lord - to slow down - to share one anothers burdens.
We have considered these heart conditions. Bad ones. Deceitful, Prideful, Greedy, Weary… all terrible places for our hearts to stay.
So what should we strive for? If our hearts require protection and leading to keep from going towards any of those or other heart conditions, what should a GOOD heart look like? What does a God - focused, kingdom minded heart look like?
I am convinced, that a Glory to God heart - is tender, courageous, and worshipful.. and we are going to see that this morning. As we get into the word, I want to remind you that the bible is one book - one connected thought, over a couple thousand years - but telling one message. The quantity of times that these three issues are presented in scripture are in the hundreds.
Tender: Gentleness, not tough, concern - empathetic.
Ella / Evy story.
Hearts become hard through our own experiences, but this is not where God wants us to be.
Heartache / heartbreak.
Loss.
Betrayal.
Living life for ourselves.
Sometimes - we just decide that is how we are going to be. Im TOUGH. You can’t be tender and be tough.
The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
Happy is the one who is always reverent, but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
Look at the world with compassion, the way that Jesus did.
Get involved in their lives. Serve the way that Jesus did.
See people as broken, just as much as you are broken.
Tender VS Callous
Courageous:
The world around us is fallen, broken, and full of nonsense. But we cannot hide from it.
Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.”
1 Corinthians 16:13 (CSB)
Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
Worshipful:
God has to be in the right place in your life. A worshipful heart will acknowledge him as Lord.
Includes repentance, coming into right relationship with God.
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.”
Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
Conclusion:
If we are going to make it in this world and accomplish the things that God has set out for us to do - we must discipline our hearts to be this way - Tender, Courageous, worshipful… if we can, not only will it help fight off other conditions, like pride and weariness, but it will allow us to serve God in ways we have never served before, it will allow us to love our neighbor in ways we have never thought of before. And God will be glorified. Through that - he has promised us good things.