Guard Your Heart

[00:00:01] Morning, West Campus. [00:00:06] Even though it's time change, even though Chet said he was going to be out of town, this is like the second time he said he's going to be out of town and can't preach for a time change. But you know what? That doesn't matter. I'm excited to be here with you this morning. But before we dive in, would you bow your heads in prayer with me? [00:00:25] Dear Heavenly Father, we love you. You are a good and mighty God. Father, I pray that your word would speak to our hearts this morning. I pray, Father, that we can see you and hear you in a new way today. And, Father, that we can be the men and women that you have called us to be. And I pray this in Jesus name, amen. [00:00:49] Well, when I was in high school, my family and I, we got a puppy. So this is very exciting. Any other puppy lovers? Don't raise your hand if you. Yeah, listen, we went to the Crushers or the Monsters game yesterday, and you can bring your dog. Like, that's dog lovers at its finest. It was great. Puppies everywhere. So I was in high school, my family and I, we got a puppy. If you don't know, puppies are a lot of work. They require a lot of time, a lot of attention, a lot of training, and they can't be left home for a long period. [00:01:22] So when my family and I, we would leave, we would put our cute, adorable, black lab puppy in a crate to keep her safe. And this one time, it was my job, my responsibility. I was in charge of making sure our puppy was in her crate. So I put her in the crate. I went about my day, and my dad called me later because when he got home, the puppy was not in her crate. [00:01:50] And, yeah, it's bad. Not only was she not in the crate, she had completely destroyed our living room. I mean, things were unrecognizable. She went from this cute, adorable, black lab puppy to this, like, feral, wild, demonic beast. And it was not good. And after that, we had to get a new couch. [00:02:15] Sorry, dad. [00:02:19] But see, here's what happened. Because I was supposed to check the crate and I left it unchecked. She got out and it caused chaos. It caused a lot of havoc. And see, when we leave things in our lives unchecked, it can cause a lot of havoc and destruction, not only in our lives, but in the lives of the people around us. And it reminded me, I saw this show this week. Any, like, TLC lovers, like the Home, the Fixer Uppers. And yeah, I usually like them Sometimes they give me anxiety. Cause they didn't budget for that. And it's not my money, but so stressed out for them. But I saw this episode this week, and this couple was fixing up this house to. To flip. And they purchased the house, and I mean, it was a disaster. The cabinets were, like, falling off the hinges. The paint was falling off the walls. Like, it was pretty bad. So they were going to go in, remodel it, and then sell it. But as they started to dig into the house, as they started to pull up the floorboards, they found that there were termites all under the foundation of the house. [00:03:32] And see, here's the thing. They could have fixed the inside of the house, right? And they could have sold it, but the outside, the foundation, it wouldn't hold. It would have crumbled. [00:03:44] And see, this is what we're going to talk about today. [00:03:48] Because if we don't check what's in our heart, if we leave it unguarded, we could end up with an unhealthy foundation. And that can cause a lot of chaos, a lot of frustration in our lives. See, having a healthy heart is the heartbeat of a healthy life. And today we're gonna look at Proverbs 4. We're gonna dive into this a little bit deeper. And I love the book of Proverbs because Proverbs is a book of wisdom. It is God's good wisdom. It's how we should live our lives. And they're short verses, so I love it even more. [00:04:28] And Proverbs, it is written by a man named King Solomon, and he is said to be one of the wisest men in the Bible. And he is writing this Proverbs to his son. [00:04:42] So we're going to pick up at verse 20. [00:04:45] It says, My son, pay attention to my words. Listen closely to my sayings. All right, he's got our attention. He said, listen up. Pay attention. [00:04:58] He says, don't lose sight of them. Keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Anybody looking to get healthy this year? Here we go. [00:05:14] Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source, life. Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly and don't let your lips talk deviously. Let your eyes look forward. Fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path for your feet and your ways will be established. Don't turn to the right or to the left. Keep your feet away from evil. [00:05:43] So this is our bottom line today. This is what I want us to take away. [00:05:47] What goes into our hearts, it comes out in our lives. [00:05:53] What goes in our heart, it's gonna come out and affect all of our lives. And I wanna break this down and unpack this in three ways. Understanding your heart, why we have to guard our hearts. And then how do we guard our hearts? Simple. We got this. Yeah. All right. So understanding your hearts, verse 23, it says, guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Now, when Solomon, he is talking about the heart, he's not talking about that muscular organ in the center of our chest that pumps blood and produces oxygen and gets rid of all that waste. [00:06:33] I took an anatomy class. Come on. That was good. That was good. But, no, he's not talking about the muscle or the organization. He's also not talking about, like, all of our feelings and our emotions and what's in your heart and all that fluffy Valentine's Day stuff. [00:06:48] No, he's talking about our spiritual hearts. [00:06:52] He's talking about who we are deep in our core. Not like the polished version that we show up with. And, how are you? And I'm fine. Everything's fine. Everything's good. [00:07:03] No, it's our deep desires, our deepest values. All that we think. Yes. Our emotions, what we feel, our behaviors, all come from our hearts. [00:07:19] What are you thinking about? [00:07:21] Like, what do you wake up in the morning? What are the first thoughts that run through your mind? [00:07:26] Are they good thoughts? Are they thoughts that are carrying you through the day? Are they thoughts that are weighing you down? [00:07:32] Those come from our heart. [00:07:34] What do you like to do? Are you doing the things that you like to do? [00:07:39] It's 2025. This year is hard. [00:07:43] I've been in a rut. [00:07:45] But are you doing the things that you enjoy doing? Are you spending your time just watching Netflix, zoning out a little bit? [00:07:54] My heart's been unhealthy. [00:07:57] But see, our hearts drive our thoughts, our emotions, our behaviors. Our hearts are like a compass. [00:08:09] And see, a compass, it guides you and directs you based on what's at the center. [00:08:15] And that's our hearts. Our hearts are going to guide us and direct us based on what's at the core. [00:08:21] And that's why it's important to know what's in your heart. [00:08:25] See, if our hearts are aligned with God, then we'll have joy and peace and love. [00:08:33] But if our hearts are full of bitterness because of this winter, I'm going to stop complaining about it eventually. But if our hearts are full of anger, it's going to lead to a frustrating path. [00:08:48] Our hearts Guide all that we do. Does anybody use their GPS on their phone? [00:08:55] I mean, like, all the time? Yeah, I use my gps like, anywhere I go. I'll even use my GPS if I know where I'm going. Like, if I've been to your house three or four times, I'm still putting it in because I like to know, when am I gonna get there? Is there traffic? [00:09:13] The red line? [00:09:15] That's right. [00:09:18] I use my GPS a lot. And this one particular time, I was in an area that I wasn't too familiar with, so I put my address in my GPS so I could get home, and everything looked pretty good. And as I'm driving again, I'm not. Don't judge me. I wasn't too familiar with this area, but as I was driving home, I was like, this doesn't look right. [00:09:42] I don't think I'm supposed to get on this road. But my GPS said it, so I'm like, all right, I trust you. Here we go. Maybe it's a new road I haven't been down before. This is why I'm bad at directions. But I ended up about 20 minutes going in the wrong direction before I realized I put the wrong address in my gps. [00:10:04] You said you wouldn't judge. [00:10:06] But see, our hearts can do the very same thing. [00:10:10] Like, if we're not paying attention to our hearts, if we're not checking in on our hearts, they could lead us in the wrong direction. But here's the good news. [00:10:23] God wants to change what's in our heart. And when he does, everything else in our life changes with it. [00:10:31] We have some issues with the heart. [00:10:35] Which brings us to our second point, why we have to guard our hearts. And I want to look back at verse 23, because it says, guard your heart above all else. And this word guard, it means to keep watch, to look out for, to observe, to preserve. And I just want you to picture, like, a big buff soldier, not the guy who skipped leg day, but like a big buff soldier, head to toe. [00:11:04] Head to toe in armor. And he's got a weapon, he's got a sword, and he is standing in front of a gate. And he is just watching. He's keeping. He is just making sure that the wrong things are not coming out and the right things are staying in. [00:11:22] And see, we have to guard our hearts because we can't always trust our hearts. [00:11:31] Jeremiah 17, verse 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things beyond cure. Who can understand it? [00:11:43] Our hearts are deceitful. [00:11:47] I heard this quote by Timothy Keller he is an amazing. Was an amazing author, pastor, theologian. A lot of good things. [00:11:57] It says the human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into the ultimate things. Our hearts defy them as the center of our lives because we think they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment if we attain them. [00:12:23] Have you often heard, like, follow your heart? [00:12:28] No, don't do that. The Bible says we have to guard our hearts. See, because we were created by God in the image of God to know God and to love God. If we put anything else at the center of our hearts, it becomes an idol. [00:12:46] And this word, idol, it sounds kind of foreign. Like, you maybe picture, like, a statue and you're just, like, worshiping it. Or they used to do that in the Bible. But see, we could do that in our lives. We can put things and maybe they're good things in place of God and that becomes an idol. See, it's what an idol is. Whatever we look to in our hearts to say, this is it. This is what's gonna bring me joy. This is gonna give me meaning. It gives us false hope. [00:13:21] Was anyone else super pumped about the weather this week? Oh, that's false hope. I love. [00:13:32] I. [00:13:33] Oh, I'm so ready for spring. I've been so excited about it. I was so, like, I sat outside and I just, like, took in the sun. It felt so good. And then I heard on the radio, I forgot it's called full spring. Like, that's what this week was. It was full spring because it snowed later in the week. But, like, I had these thoughts, like, when the weather gets better, I'm gonna feel so much better. Like, I've just been in a funk. It's the weather. I just need the sunshine. I can't wait to go outside. Like, my mood's truly gonna be better when the weather is better. [00:14:07] And that's false hope because we live in Ohio. [00:14:13] But have you ever been the victim of false hope in your life? Like, you were so convinced that that thing, the job, the raise, the money, the house, the car, like, once I get it, life is going to be so much better. [00:14:35] And then we get it and we're like, that's not what I thought. [00:14:41] There's still, like, an emptiness. Like, we're not fully satisfied in whatever it was. [00:14:53] See, we have to guard our hearts because we can put the wrong things at the center. But here's the good news. [00:15:02] Christ. [00:15:04] When we're seeking to be fully satisfied in Christ, everything changes. See, he is our ultimate Fulfillment. He is our ultimate joy. He is our ultimate source of everything that's going to fulfill us. He's going to meet our every need. He's going to heal us exactly where we are. [00:15:28] When my husband and I got married, we were in our early 20s. [00:15:33] And, hey, but like, you don't know what you don't know, right? [00:15:40] And I just. [00:15:43] I kind of put him in this place where I just expected him to make me happy. I have a lot of needs. [00:15:52] No, I don't think that was my husband who said that. [00:15:59] You know me. [00:16:02] But here's the thing. I don't think I'm the only one that feels this way. Right, Right. Okay. [00:16:08] But see, I would look to my husband to make me happy. [00:16:13] I would look to him to heal what was broken inside that he couldn't and to provide in ways that, like, God didn't create that design. [00:16:27] And see, when I did that, I put unrealistic expectations on our marriage. [00:16:33] Unrealistic expectations that are only met in Christ. And listen, when we find that fulfillment, when we are searching to find that fulfillment in Christ, it does make us better men and women. It makes us better husbands and wives because we're not looking and putting so much pressure on others around us. [00:16:56] And see, sometimes we have to guard our hearts to keep the bad things out, the idols out. [00:17:02] And sometimes we have to guard our hearts to keep the good things in. [00:17:08] We have to guard our heart against God's word, not against. To keep God's word in what we know to be true about God. [00:17:18] See, some of us, we might have grown up thinking that God was an angry God, that God was just sitting there, you know, watching. And he's like, I knew it. [00:17:31] Another mistake. [00:17:33] And see, this takes us away from God when we believe God is an angry God. But the Bible says that we have a God of love, a God of compassion, a God of mercy. And when we keep that within our heart, this is what Solomon's saying. He says, hey, keep this within your heart, guard this, guard what's true about God, because that will help shape our hearts. [00:18:05] So I want to dive back into verse 24, because I want to. [00:18:15] So that's what's come next. [00:18:18] Here we go. But no, I want to look at how do we guard our hearts. What does Solomon say next? What does he say to do? He says, don't let your mouth speak dishonestly and don't let your lips talk deviously. [00:18:35] He says to guard your heart. We have to guard our mouths because what we say, it displays what's in our heart. [00:18:46] Have you ever been around anyone that is, like, constantly complaining? [00:18:51] Like, it is so uncomfortable. Like, you find yourself, like, moving away from them. Like they could make something negative out of anything. [00:19:01] Like, we don't wanna be around those people. Right? [00:19:03] Here's the problem. Have you ever been someone that is constantly complaining? It's like you can't find the peace and the joy anywhere. Like you could pick apart anything. [00:19:14] But see, Solomon's saying, hey, to guard your heart, you have to guard your mouth. And when you stop, when you just stop and think before you speak, it's gonna change the energy in the room. It's gonna change the people around you. When you wanna say something negative, can you just pause this and just say, lord, help me. Say something good. Lord, help me see the goodness today and then share it. People love it when you do that. When you walk into a room and you bring life. [00:19:46] The other reason we have to guard our mouths is because we could end up gossiping. [00:19:56] Chad said it last week, like, people can be hard to love. [00:20:01] There's that one friend, that one co worker, that one person in your life. Don't look at them right now. [00:20:11] Don't nudge them. [00:20:16] But see, when we are talking about people in a negative way, when we're gossiping about them like we're talking about them when they're not in the room, it not only affects your relationship with them, it affects your character and it affects your heart. [00:20:35] Listen, I would hate to be judged at the worst moment and talked about the worst moments of my life, right? I think we can all agree. [00:20:45] So this week, if we are tempted to gossip, can we just pray? Pray for the spirit of grace and not the spirit of gossip. [00:20:58] Moving on to verse 25. He says, Let your eyes look forward. Fix your gaze straight ahead. [00:21:12] Let your eyes look forward. Fix your gaze straight ahead. Where are you looking? [00:21:20] Someone says, if you want to guard your heart, you have to know where you're looking. What do you spend your time looking at? Anybody else have a problem with their phone? [00:21:28] Okay, no, it's not just me. I have this weird relationship with. I love movies. I think movies are great. Two of my favorite kinds of movies are a romance movie. Anyone? [00:21:41] Okay, wow. [00:21:46] The other one I love maybe, I don't know, a little true crime. Anybody look? A little true crime? Yeah, I think they go together. It's weird. It's like peanut butter and jelly. [00:21:56] Here's the problem, though. When I am looking and when I'm watching these movies, they truly do affect my mood and My poor husband. It affects him, too. Because I'm either like, we are soulmates. We were meant to be together, or I'm like, this is why people snap. [00:22:20] No, but really, we have to pay attention to what we're constantly looking at because it shapes the way we see life. I told you I went to a Monsters game. Did I tell you this? Yeah, the puppies. Okay, time change. So we went, and this was wild. I've never been to a hockey game before. This was so much fun. [00:22:41] The guys, they're in the middle of playing, and out of nowhere, the dudes take their gloves off, the music starts going, and they start fighting. [00:22:51] And people were like, cheering this on. I was like, do we cheer? Do we Stop it. What do we do? But it was like, this is what they do in hockey. Do we know this? I don't watch hockey. That's so. [00:23:03] This is so wild to me. I don't get out much, but I just think. My thought was, I was like, I don't think they talk it out a lot. [00:23:16] I think they do this a lot. Like, when they get angry, their first instinct is, like, we just fight. [00:23:22] And I just think, like, when we're watching stuff like that, whether we know it or not, like, that translates to our lives. Like, what we're watching. [00:23:30] When I watch a love movie, I'm feeling like I want Bob to bring home these flowers and roses and. That's not funny. [00:23:40] Movies are real. Just kidding. [00:23:43] But really, what we are looking at, it shapes the way that we live our lives. If we're constantly watching hockey fights, I'm telling you, you're gonna be more prone to just wanna fight with people. [00:23:58] Look at this. I love. I love verse 24. I love. We're gonna look at verse 24. Cause this is what else. This is what else he says. And when you're reading the Bible, one of the things you do is you look out for words that are repeating itself because they mean something. So just look here, it says, verse 24. Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly. And don't let your lips talk deviously. Let your eyes look forward. Fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path for your feet. [00:24:32] How often do we find ourselves looking at other people's lives? [00:24:38] How often do we find that we're comparing our life to someone else's and it just. It robs us of where God has gifted us. [00:24:51] We can look at other relationships and think, like, man, they have got it together. [00:24:56] They're not watching true crime and just waiting for the Other one to freak out or, like, we can compare our parents. We can compare our kids. We can think like, their kids are so perfect and they're going to college and they're doing everything right and mine's struggling. [00:25:15] Why. [00:25:16] But see, we have to fix our eyes on our own lives where God has gifted us and called us and loved us and not let comparison rob us. [00:25:34] I love verse 26 because it says, carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established. [00:25:46] Carefully consider the path of your feet. Where. [00:25:50] What path are you on? [00:25:53] What have you been listening to? What have you been looking at? [00:25:57] Are you on the path that you know you're walking with God? And. And maybe you're not happy all the time, but there's real joy. [00:26:07] Are you on a path that is just weighing you down? See, you're. You're moving one way or the other. All of us are. [00:26:15] So we have to guard our heart. Or it's. [00:26:19] Or how we guard our hearts is by what, looking at what we're listening to. [00:26:30] But here's the best news. This is the best way that we can guard our hearts. [00:26:38] See, we need the help of the Heavenly Father to direct our hearts to what's healthy. The last thing that we can do to guard our hearts is invite God into our hearts. [00:26:54] See, he knows our messes. [00:26:59] He knows that the termites have been eating at the foundation. [00:27:05] But see, that doesn't stop him from helping us. [00:27:10] I heard this quote. It is Timothy Keller. I used him a lot, but he's so good. [00:27:18] He said the basis, the great basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us. Church. That's good news. That means even when we just wander off, even when our hearts have been a disaster, we can still go to God. And it just reminds me, there was a Sunday here. It was after church, and everyone was leaving. And like, my heart this year, I told you, Struggle bus. [00:27:55] I've been letting the wrong thoughts into my heart. [00:28:01] Wrong thoughts that I had been thinking about. [00:28:05] I just. I wasn't in a good place. [00:28:09] And it was after service and my dad was here, and I saw my dad and I was like, oh, I just. I want to go say hi to him. Like, I just want to go be around my dad. And every time I would, like, go to say hi to him, it was like there was just another distraction. Like there was like another obstacle. Like, I couldn't quite make it over to him. [00:28:31] And I was just like, I just want to go be around him for just a minute. Like, in my heart, I just. I needed a hug from my dad because I knew, like, he didn't care about my broken heart, he didn't care about my messes, he didn't care that I was a brat. [00:28:49] Not all the time, but that week I was. [00:28:52] And by the time I caught up to him, he was outside and I yelled and I was like, dad. [00:28:58] He turned around and I ran up and I gave him a hug and I just started crying. I'm emotional, but I just started crying. And he's like, what's wrong? Like, dads are like, what can I do? I was like, no, you're good. I just. [00:29:14] I needed to hug you. [00:29:16] I needed to be around you. [00:29:19] I just needed you to say, it's okay. [00:29:23] But see, that's. That's who our heavenly father is. [00:29:28] Like, we have a good heavenly father. Maybe our dads aren't coming to church right now. [00:29:33] Can't go give them a hug. But we have a heavenly father who says, I love you. He says, I don't care where your heart's been. I don't care about the messes in your life. [00:29:46] We have a God who is gonna walk with us, who's always there for us. A God who says, let me shape and change your heart. And that's the good news today. Church. [00:29:59] That's the good news for us. [00:30:03] So we're going to end in prayer. [00:30:06] But as we pray, I just want to give you a moment. I just want to give you a moment if your heart has been heavy, if your heart has been leading you in the wrong direction, if you've been overwhelmed this year, I just want to give you a moment to say in your heart, Lord, I love you, Lord, I'm sorry that my heart has been leading me in the wrong direction. But Lord, I trust you. [00:30:43] Dear Father, we love you so, so, so much. [00:30:49] Thank you, God, that you are the one who we can look to to satisfy our souls, to satisfy our hearts. [00:30:58] Father, I pray where we have just gone the wrong direction, Father, that you would lead us back to you. [00:31:05] I pray, Father, for every heart in here that just needs a hug from you. [00:31:11] I pray that you would heal us, that you would change us. And I pray, Father, all of this in Jesus good and mighty name, Amen.