Is Your Heart Right?

Is Your Heart Right? Pastor Greg Stansel Acts 8:9-25 February 13, 2022 Snap shot: The Gospel leads us to build God’s Kingdom and not our own. I. The Gospel exposes the desires of our heart A. Desire to be _______________________________________________________ B. Desire to be _______________________________________________________ C. Desire for _______________________________________________________ D. Desire to earn _______________________________________________________ E. Desire to stick _______________________________________________________ II. The Gospel calls us to repent III. The Gospel leads us to build God’s Kingdom A. Combating our desire for our ______________. B. Combating building our ______________. C. Combating ___________–_______________ D. Combating _____________ ______________ arising. E. Combating _________________. Connect How have you tried to build your kingdom before God’s Kingdom? Study Point 1: The Gospel exposes the desires of our heart READ Jeremiah 17:5–13 1) How is this passage part of the Gospel? What is the bad news? What is the good news? What does this passage expose about the human heart? What does it look like to “trust in man”? What does it look like to “trust in the LORD”? 2) Discuss the sub-points under main point one. What can we do to be aware of these areas rising up in our hearts? What are practical steps to respond when we see these areas in our hearts? What hope does the gospel offer? Point 2: The Gospel calls us to repent READ Ezekiel 18:4–32 3) First off, is Ezekiel discussing salvation in the discussion about death and life? Has salvation ever been contingent on a person being perfect? How does repentance help us truly live now? 4) What is the picture we get of repentance in this passage? How does the term “turn” help us understand what it means to repent? What are we turning from and turning to? What do we learn of God’s desire? How does the Lord’s desire help us in repentance? Point 3: The Gospel leads us to build God’s Kingdom READ Luke 22:24–30 5) Discuss the sub-point from the sermon about how living for the Kingdom of God combats our wicked desires. What are the sub-points if you didn’t get them on Sunday? How does living for the Kingdom go against our wicked desires? 6) How does the desire for being great look like the world? How does it NOT look like the Kingdom of God? What is the way to greatness in the Kingdom of God? How does being like “the youngest” and “one who serves” work to build the Kingdom of God? Practical Applications 1. Study repentance (see a pastor if you need help with this) 2. Practice repentance 3. Get involved in a ministry at HCC to participate with building the kingdom! Pray the passage O Lord, you are the Great One; mighty in power, awesome in grandeur, and we worship you alone as God. Forgive us for ever trying to be greater than you, or even as great as you. Forgive us for desiring to be great in others eyes and even build our own kingdom. We ask that you would plant in our hearts the desire to preach the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and no other gospel! Give us boldness to share the good news and glorify your name. Thank you for giving us your Spirit, who holds the power to make us look like Jesus and the ability to spread His name to the ends of the earth. We praise you Lord, in Jesus name, Amen. Memorize & Meditate “But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12). Preparing for next week Read: Acts 8:26-40 Ask: questions of the text. Pray: through text, for pastor as he prepares, for your heart to hear, for the congregation to hear, for all of us to be obedient.