The Heart of Man

The Organ of God’s Love

Good morning church!

Are you ready to be equipped today?

If so let me see your Bibles.

Who wants word of God to work on you and make you look more like Jesus in your everyday life?

What if the word stings a little bit because it points at area’s of your life, do you still want it?

Can you amen in your heart even when the word sheds light on area’s?

This week’s wisdom vaccination

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

The ESV says to keep your heart with all vigilance.

(Keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties to the position of your heart.)

Proverbs 4:23-27 ESV

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”

When you get angry with your wife if you’re a male or angry with your husband if your female, that anger flows from what’s in our heart.

It’s not their fault for what they did or said.

(Yelling at someone; cursing at someone; giving them the no talking to barely talking silent abuse treatment; etc.)

I didn’t guard my heart with all vigilance.

When your heart is in line with God’s love, you will obey God’s word and apply it in your life and your relationships.

The Organ of God’s Love

Today we are starting a series on our hearts.

Normally when we talk about our hearts, we think about the organ that sits in our chest.

In my 3 points today I will discuss our physical heart, our spiritual hearts and how we can use what we know today about our physical hearts to illustrate how we can better manage our spiritual hearts.

Point #1 The Physical Heart

Some facts about the heart.

The heart is a super important organ as it pumps blood around our body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your cells and removing waste products.

Daily it pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood around your body.

The task of our physical heart is to pump enough blood to deliver a continuous supply of oxygen and other nutrients to the brain and other vital organs.

Our brain is arguably the most important organ in the body.

It controls and coordinates actions and reactions, allows us to think and feel and enables us to have memories and feelings.

All the things that make us human.

What happens if you don’t get enough oxygen to your brain?

Brain cells begin to die off within 5 to 10 minutes of low oxygen.

And severe oxygen deprivation can threaten your life. (cause comas and seizures to take place)

You would then need life support or ventilators to keep you alive.

Drawing Board

Right side of the heart receives the oxygen poor blood from the body and pumps it out to the lungs for re-oxygenation.

The left side of the heart receives the re-oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps out clean blood to the body.

We know all this because of technology today but the writers of scripture and the audience they were writing to didn’t know this.

Before we are done today, I plan to use what we know by technology today as a parallel for some spiritual truths.

But for a moment, let’s set aside this technological information when considering scripture’s use of the word heart.

Point #2 The Spiritual Heart

“Heart” (Hebrew léb; Greek kardia) occurs approximately 1000 times, often disguised in translation, and the range of meaning is vast.

In the Bible it usually designates the whole personality, in contrast to modern usage. The emphasis is on the activities of reason and will rather than the emotions.

More than anything it is biblically used as a person’s thoughts, will, emotions and knowledge of right from wrong.

In both the Old and New Testament you’ll see the heart as the seat of wisdom and of thought and reflection, the instrument of belief and of will, the principle of action.

We’re going to look at some examples of the different usages of heart in scripture.

The heart is at times used as a metaphor for the center.

Matthew 12:40 ESV

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The heart is said to be wise.

1 Kings 3:12 NKJV

behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.

The heart is said to perceive.

John 12:40 ESV

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

The heart is said to understand.

1 Kings 3:9 NKJV

Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

The heart debates.

Mark 2:6 ESV

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

The heart also reflects, remembers, thinks, imagines, is wise, gets mad, has skill and much more.

Again the heart is spiritually the instrument of belief and of will, the principle of action.

Point #3 The Physical heart Turned Spiritual

As the right side of our physical heart receives contaminated blood from the body our spiritual hearts receive contaminated ideas of how to live this life from society under the influence of Satan (body)

Our spiritual heart then much like the physical heart sends that blood to the lungs to be cleaned, we send that we receive in society through our dominate thoughts. (lungs)

As the right side of our physical heart receives the cleansed blood from the lungs, our minds receive what should be dominate thoughts based on the Holy Scriptures and sends them to the spiritual heart. (lungs)

As the physical heart pumps this blood back out into the body to give nutrients and oxygen, our spiritual hearts should be sending us out into society with a kingdom mindset to influence society and give them a taste of kingdom life. (body)

In closing, when we talk about the heart biblically, I don’t want you to think about the intricacies of the heart in our chest as much as I want you to think of the intricacies of our spiritual hearts and how they can give us the ability to have a healthy and productive spiritual life.

If you’re watching online or here in the room, I want to ask you the most important question of the hour.

What is Holy Spirit saying to you right now and through this message?