Operation Week 1 - The Heart
Read
Proverbs 4:20-27 Christian Standard Bible
My son, pay attention to my words;
listen closely to my sayings.
21 Don’t lose sight of them;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Guard your heart above all else,
for it is the source of life.
24 Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly,
and don’t let your lips talk deviously.
25 Let your eyes look forward;
fix your gaze straight ahead.
26 Carefully consider the path for your feet,
and all your ways will be established.
27 Don’t turn to the right or to the left;
keep your feet away from evil.
Mark 7:21-23 Christian Standard Bible
21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”
1 Peter 5:8 Christian Standard Bible
21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts
Acts 5:3 Christian Standard Bible
3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?
Summary
Welcome back to Community Group, I am so glad you have taken the time to meet this week. We just finished our Rise Up series and if you missed any of the sermons, just head over to YouTube and type in bt.church, you can see all of our sermons there.
This week, we will be starting a new series. I have to say, as we talked about this in our sermon prep time, it brought back a lot of memories for me. I remember playing OPERATION with my brother and sisters. We would try so hard not to touch the sides of the board so we could avoid the buzzer. Just like the game OPERATION, the Lord is always working in us, the big difference is, He never makes mistakes.
Our new series entitled OPERATION, for the next few weeks, we will be talking about parts of the Christian life that we tend to. Parts may need an operation so we can follow God more closely and experience his blessings more fully. Today we are going to launch into the series with arguably the most critical part-THE HEART.
Did you know that the Bible mentions the heart over 600 times, and the book of Proverbs references it almost 100 times. What I am getting at is, the heart is a big deal. The question we need to ask is, why is the heart a big deal?
In today’s world, society and culture tell us to follow our heart and pursue what makes our heart happy. Many times, that is connected to relationships, possessions, and aspirations. We read about people who have attained all those things and are still empty. You may wonder, why are they so unhappy if they have everything they could want? It’s because life does not flow from the outside in, it flows from the inside out.
So, what is it about the heart that leads to a fulfilled life? We get our three points from verse 23. First, THE PRIORITY OF THE HEART (above all else). We typically think of feelings and emotions when we think of the heart. When we think of the mind, we think of reason and rationalization. We adopted this view from the ancient Greeks, who viewed human beings through anthropological dualism. The idea is that we have the mind and the heart, which are different. I understand that the heart and the mind are not same but that the heart is more than we think of. Now, of course, I’m not talking about the heart, the organ pumping blood through our bodies. Scripturally speaking, the heart is intellectual, emotional, volitional, and moral. Simply put, a wise person pays attention to their heart! In Mark 7:21-23, Jesus makes the priority of the heart clear when he speaks.
Point two is THE PROTECTION OF THE HEART (guard your heart). Guarding our hearts affects our homes, marriages, kids, finances, and all other areas of life. A logical question would be this: Why does the heart need to be guarded? Simply put-because, it is under attack, as Peter says in 1 Peter 5:8. Satan is on the prowl and is looking to attack the heart. In Acts 5, there is a story about a man and his wife that had been pursuing God in some way. This couple sold a piece of property, and he kept more for himself than he should have. His name was Ananias. Listen to what Peter says to him in Acts 5:3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?
Listen, if you do not guard your heart, the enemy will infiltrate your heart. Satan cannot read your thoughts, but he can watch your life to see what is in your heart. As we talk about the protection of our hearts or guarding our hearts, we must ask the question: “How do we guard our hearts?” That is a two-part answer: what you guard your heart from and what you guard your heart with. It’s both a defense (from) and an offense (with). What makes its way into your life through your ears and your eyes? Listen, this isn’t legalism; it’s wisdom. You don’t need to watch every hit show on NetFlix. You don’t need to watch every movie. You don’t need to listen to every artist. We tend to say, well, this stuff just doesn’t affect me. However, let’s look at: what comes out under your breath when things go sideways? What comes out in traffic when you are in the car by yourself? What do you click on when no one is looking? What we let in does indeed affect what comes out. When we get to vs. 26, we see that it isn’t just what we let in, but where we go.
Guarding your heart involves offense. Our hearts must be continually tuned and re-tuned. Otherwise, our lives get out of tune. So what tunes our hearts? Weekly worship, Consistent community, Persistent prayer, Daily devotion, Sacrificial service, Grateful generosity, and Actual affections all these keep our heart in tune.
The Final point is THE POTENTIAL OF THE HEART (It is the Source of Life). Augustine
wrote: “The key to life change is not the acts of the will but the loves of the heart.”
Disordered loves create disordered lives.
This was a practical sermon, here are a few next steps that may apply to you right where you are today:
CONNECT WITH GOD: we listed several examples earlier. Decide this week to cultivate connections (don’t treat God like opening and closing an app, treat him like an operating system)
THANK GOD: You may not feel very thankful today, but remember this truth: feelings follow faith. Practicing thanksgiving tends to lead to thankfulness.
KNOW GOD: you will never have your life on course if your heart does not belong to Him.
Thanks for joining us today, we look forward to seeing you next week!
Discussion
Did you ever play OPERATION as a child? What was the hardest part to operate on?
Why do you feel the heart is so important? How has your heart guided you to do right or wrong? Explain
How do you guard your heart and your family's heart from the world? Explain
How are you keeping your heart in tune (besides Community Group)? Explain
Are you reaching your heart’s potential? Explain
Announcements
It was such a blessing to spend time with some of our CG leaders this past Sunday at Cordons.
We are scheduling a CG leadership gathering in Alice for some time in August. More information to come.
Let’s continue to pray for each other and send prayer requests through our WhatsApp thread. If you are a CG Leader and are not on our WhatsApp thread please contact Meichelle at meichelle.vasquez@bt.church
Pastor Isuaro Medina
Isauro.medina@bt.church
Cell: (956) 984-9380
