Relationships: If You Want My Heart

April 21st, 2024/Casey Middle School

Hellen Obiri, who lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado, broke away from a large pack late to become the first woman to repeat as Boston Marathon champion since 2005, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 37 seconds on Monday.

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Bible Project Video - https://youtu.be/aS4iM6KpPYo?si=3a_gRvUaqcU1-8pY

Title: If You Want My Heart

Passage: Psalms 27:8 NLT

“My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me. And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” - Psalms 27:8 NLT

Pray:

Introduction:

• You think you know your heart? 'The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.' That's Jeremiah 17:9-10 revealing our reality!
• 'A good person produces good from the good stored up in his heart, and an evil person produces evil from the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.' Luke 6:45 tells us, our output is linked directly to our heart's condition. What’s flowing out of your heart today?

The Heart Dilemma:

• Do you follow your heart, or do you lead it? What you see and hear determines what you think, what you think determines how you feel, and what’s in your heart ultimately will dictate how you live and all that you say and do. So, who’s really leading whom?
• So how does this practically play out in our relationships? If our heart is unbridled, then our actions will be reckless.

Sermon Outline: The “If You Want My Heart” Process

1. Check Your Heart

   1. Come on, you check your phone how many times a day? What if we checked our hearts with the same frequency, the same urgency?

      1. We go to the doctor for a health check in
      2. We go to the dentist for a teeth check in
         What if we went to God more regularly for a heart check in?

      3. Understanding the heart requires more than introspection; it demands divine inspection.

         2. To expose anything that is real and raw in our lives is incredibly difficult. It can almost feel impossible at times.

      4. To feel exposed and open at the wrong time, or to the wrong people, or in the wrong setting, can feel so uncomfortable, that we would rather be miserable, than vulnerable.

      5. This could be from past experiences or purely from your imagination. But for this moment, I’m not talking about you showing who you really are to your neighbor or the strangers in the lobby, I’m talking about you having an encounter with God.

         3. "David got real with God, 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you...' That’s from Psalm 139:23-24. Are you brave enough to let God run a diagnostic on your heart?"

      6. If you’re like me, you probably feel ashamed at times at what you might discover that God already knows.

      7. If I slow down long enough to actually investigate my heart, then I’ll be faced with the reality that I’ve got a lot to address before a Holy God.

         4. Types of Hearts:

      8. Broken Heart ”The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18, CSB)

      9. Hard Heart “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26, CSB)
      10. Secret Heart "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.'" (1 Samuel 16:7, CSB)
      11. Greedy Heart "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21, CSB)
      12. Fearful Heart "Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid; though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident." (Psalm 27:3, CSB)

      13. Troubled Heart "Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." (John 14:1, CSB)

          5. As we check in, we must begin to Inform the parts that are broken

      14. A better way to say that, is that we need to let God inform the parts that are broken and then we align our hearts with what He speaks.

      15. The heart is not just a box to be filled with information, but a spring to be cleansed through transformation, reflecting what lies beneath the surface.
      16. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just want to give you a new perspective, He wants to give you a new heart.

2. Surrender Your Heart

   1. I choose faith over feelings because the Rock is more reliable than the waves of our emotions!
      1. “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” - Matthew 7:24-25 NLT
      2. I don’t follow feelings because I’m on a firm foundation.
      3. I don’t follow feelings, because I follow the One who knows what’s best
      4. I don’t follow feelings, because He’s got the whole world in His hands
   2. Steps to a fully surrendered heart:
      1. "I make you Lord of my life" - Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”
      2. "I turn from sin and trust in your plan" - 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
      3. "I receive the gift of grace" - Ephesians 2:8 “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift”
      4. "I will follow you" - John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.”
      5. "I will love you" - Matthew 22:37 “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

   3. A fully surrendered heart is both a decision and a process. You have surrendered your heart to God, and today, this moment, you are surrendering it to Him again.

      1. You have to daily choose faith over feelings.
      2. If your feelings don’t line up with faith, then you cannot rely on them.
      3. If your feelings don’t line up with God’s Word, then your feelings aren’t going to bring you to holiness and satisfaction.
      4. Application: if you trust in your feelings then you are intentionally choosing instability. But God has called you to so much more. A firm foundation.

3. Hide God's Word in Your Heart

   1. Your heart can be deceitful or delightful; the difference lies in what you deposit into it daily.
      1. A well-ordered heart finds its compass not in fleeting emotions but in the eternal truth revealed in Scripture. Is your compass set to His truth?
      2. "Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart." - Deuteronomy 6:4-9
   2. Practical Steps:
      1. Teach the Word to your children during everyday activities
      2. Repeat the Word to your children
         1. In prayer (pray scripture)
         2. During life decisions (what does the Word say?)
         3. Through songs (scripture jingles and worship songs)
      3. Teach the Word to your children - Every day offers natural opportunities to teach and disciple your children
         1. When you sit in your house - meal time, reading time, idle time
         2. When you walk along the road - drive time, vacations, walks to the park, walks in your neighborhood
         3. When you lie down - bedtime
         4. When you get up - getting ready for school, driving to school, making breakfast
      4. Our homes are to be a place where God’s Word is honored, outspoken, and obeyed.
      5. "With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You." - Psalm 119:10-11

4. Guard Your Heart

   1. To love is to be vulnerable, but don’t just throw your heart out there without protection. Guard it, because everything you do flows from it.

      1. Don’t build barriers, establish boundaries.

         2. "Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life." - Proverbs 4:23

      2. Secure the perimeter. Set the standard. Guard both against negative inputs that want to take you out, and guard the positive deposits that have been given to you from God and Godly counsel.

      3. “Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” - 2 Timothy 1:13-14
         3. An unguarded heart will lead to an unfiltered life. A guarded heart will lead to a faithful life.

Conclusion: Commit Your Whole Heart to God

• "We're called to seek Him with everything we've got. 'With my whole heart I seek you; let me not stray from your commandments!' (Psalm 119:10). Are you ready to commit, not just today, but every single day?"
• "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13

Benediction:

• God says, 'Come and talk with me.' And our heart responds, 'Lord, I am coming.' That's our call to action, from Psalm 27:8. Will your heart respond to His call today?
• “My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me. And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” - Psalms 27:8 NLT