It's A Heart Problem (Mt. 12:50)

Read Matthew 12:50.

There is much seeking to know God's will.  I don't think delay means He is playing games with us. No, He wants to reveal what we seek.  Perhaps delay is His tool to test our obedience.  It is one thing to know God's will and another to do it.  Those who know but don't do lack intimacy with Jesus.  Why?  Matthew 13:15a sheds light on this.  A dull heart will not hear.  It is not a hearing problem; rather, it is a heart problem.

Treasure Reveals Heart (Mt. 6:21)

Read Matthew 6:21.

Treasure reveals heart, not vice versa.  Where is your treasure?  Here are some questions to help you evaluate.

• What does your checkbook say?  Are you tithing on income and increase or are you studying to form well-sounding theological loopholes? (Making loopholes is a characteristic of a Pharisaical spirit.)
• What do you value?  Who or what do you talk about more than anything else?  That is who or what you will sacrifice for.  You sacrifice for that which you treasure.
• Do you spend more money on Christmas than you give to God during the year?
• Do you spend more money on vacation than you give to God during the year?
• Do you spend more money on your pets in a year than you give to missions or benevolence?
• Do you dread the offering or battle internally when it is announced?  If so, why?  What are you afraid of?
• Do you find more joy at the golf course than you do in church?  

Testing What's In Your Heart

The following things will test what's in your heart:
* Trials (Prov. 17:3)
* Praise (Prov. 27:21)
* Honest self-inspection (1 Cor. 11:28; 2 Cor. 13:5; Prov. 14:10a; 20:27; 27:19)
* Conviction / searching by the Holy Spirit (Psa. 139:23-24; Prov. 16:2; 21:2; Jer. 17:9-10)
* Cross-examination by other people (Prov. 18:1, 17; 20:5; 26:12)

Flesh It Out (09/25/17)

Read Proverbs 20:9.  Set this verse against Psalm 32:1 and preach "The Possibility of a Clean Heart."  Explain how it happens.

Start With The Heart (Mt. 23:25-26)

Read Matthew 23:25-6.

1.  The liquid goes inside the cup.  If you had to choose between a clean inside or a clean outside, wouldn't you choose the clean inside?

2.  You're not clean just because you look clean.  True cleaning requires effort -- a wipe, a soak, a scrub.  Get into every nook and cranny.

3.  What's in your heart?  Don't mis-assess the inside by using the outside (blessings, money, favorable circumstances) as your measurement.

4.  Bring your "cup" to Jesus.  He alone can clean it properly and thoroughly.

Heart And Hands (Mark 1:41)

Read Mark 1:41.

Jesus didn't just feel on the inside; He touched the man.  When dealing with people, both your heart and your hands need to be engaged.

• It starts with your heart.  Is your heart sensitive to the stirring of the Holy Spirit? 
• Your heart alone isn't enough.  Compassion needs implementation.  Feeling needs follow-through.
• Your hands alone aren't enough.  Implementation without compassion leads to formality, coldness and performance.  People deserve better than that!

The Return of The Unclean Spirit (Luke 11:24-26)

Read Luke 11:24-26.

• The impossibility of spiritual neutrality.
• The vacuum of a human spirit.  
• It is made for occupation.  
• Jesus doesn't want to be a visitor or a renter but an occupying Landlord (heart Lord).
• The insufficiency of mere morality.
• Morality, self-improvement and self-discipline, without Christ's occupying your heart, fall short.
• The question isn't whether or not your heart passes room inspection.  The question is whether or not Jesus lives and reigns in your heart.
• All that is required for demon-possession is for Jesus to be not living in your heart.
• You must do more than get the demon out and get the dirt out.
• You must get Jesus in.

Into The Deep (Part 2) (Lu. 5:4)

Read Luke 5:4.

Five Observations:

1. Jesus speaks in the shallow place, but rewards you in the deep place.
2. You must leave the "shore" if you want to experience the promised "more."
3. One moment of obedience is greater than one night of sacrifice.
4. Jesus knows where the "fish" are.
5. The reward is favorably disproportionate to the obedience.  One act of obedience -- a shove and a bit of rowing -- led to multiple nets' being filled to their breaking points.

Into The Deep (Part 1) (Lu. 5:4)

Read Luke 5:4.

The "catch", the blessing God wants to send simply because He wants to send it, is found "in the deep."  How we make a living in the shallows!  That's why we end up with shallow lives and become content with the ministry of minnows.

1.  The deep is a place of frustration to the flesh.  Lots of work, lots of attempts, no results except tiredness.

2.  It is one thing to go to the deep on our own strength and will, but it is another to be commissioned there.  how things change when Jesus calls you into the deep!  Enough of our calling ourselves.  Enough of our lame results.  Let's listen for His invitation.

3.  Success in the deep requires a clean, mended net.  Before their invitation into the deep, notice what the disciples were doing.  Cleaning their nets.  Removing debris so that the nets worked optimally.  Checking for tears and weak spots so any future catch wouldn't be compromised.

4.  Success in the deep requires obedience.  You do what Jesus says when He says it because it is He who said it,  No negotiation, no compromise, no delay, no excuse, no vote  and no second opinion.

Outside And Inside (Mt. 23:25-28)

Read Matthew 23:25-28.

1. Just because things look good on the outside doesn't mean they are good on the inside.  People easily live in duplicity.

2. Most attention goes into preserving the outside instead of cultivating the inside. It's hard work focusing upon the interior!

3. It is appalling what can live inside of you! (Mt. 15:16-20; Prov. 4:23)

4. So, what's in your heart?  Yours, not someone else's.  Ask the Holy Spirit to flesh out any toxicity (Psa. 19:14; 139:23-24; 1 Cor. 11:28; 2 Cor. 13:5).

My Prayer (11/30/16)

Read Matthew 23:25. 

Lord, I don't often want to look too hard on the inside, since I'm afraid what I might find.  You know I'd much rather pay attention to the outside.  Resolved today, with the Holy Spirit's help, to live from integrity and not reputation.  If death is on the inside, no outside alteration will change that.  Lord, only You can make me clean on the inside and outside.  My desire is to cooperate with Your work.

When Hate Is In Your Heart (Lu. 23:13-25)

Read Luke 23:13-25.

When hate is in your heart . . .

1. You will not listen to reason or logic.  Pilate tried several times to persuade the mass that Jesus was innocent.  They didn't want to hear it.
2. You will make poor decisions.  The crowd, including the priests, demanded Barabbas instead of Jesus.  They wanted a murderer instead of an innocent man.  What fills the heart prompts the decisions.
3. You will justify great injustice.  

If you don't think you're capable of ever entertaining hatred in your heart, read Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:18-19.

Observations from Matthew 13:15

• A    dull heart
• B    ears hard of hearing
• C    eyes closed
• C1  eyes open
• B1  ears sensitive of hearing
• A1  understanding heart

Observations:

1.  This verse is part of Jesus' response to the question about why He speaks in parables (Mt. 13:10).

2.  The center, or hinge, of the above structure is seeing (C & C1).

• If the seeing is not right, the hearing won't be right.
• If the hearing is not right, the heart won't be right.

3.  Read Amos 8:1-3; Zech. 4:1-14 > Seeing came first.  

4.  Here are three questions for you to consider about any passage of Scripture.

• What do I see? (Psa. 119:18)
• What does it mean?  In other words, why is God showing this to me? (Mt. 13:9; Rev. 2:7a)
• What am I to do with what I see and when am I to do it? (Jam. 1:22-25)

Questions from Matthew 13:15

Read Matthew 13:15.

1.  Is my heart (place of decision and will) understanding and repentant or dull and rebellious?

2.  Is my hearing (of God's voice, will and Word) open and sensitive or closed and resistant?

3.  Is my seeing (spiritual sight) blind or focused?

4.  Why did I answer each question the way I did?

Verse Of The Week (08/12/16)

Northmoreland Park, Westmoreland County, PA
Photo taken 12.04.13 at 4:15 P.M.

"As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man." (Prov. 27:19)

When Your Heart Isn't Right (Mk. 3:1-6)

Consideration

• When your heart isn't right, Jesus knows it.
• When your heart isn't right, not even silence is enough to cover it.
• When your heart isn't right, it affects Jesus.
• When your heart isn't right, Jesus is greater than your heart.  (He can choose to override what's coming out of your heart and still minister to people.)

Observation

• When you don't deal with what's in your heart, it will get progressively worse.  (The Pharisees went from watching Jesus to plotting to kill Him.)

Investigation

• What's in your heart? (Capital One's slogan: "What's in your wallet?")
• That stuff that's in your heart -- why is it there?

Heart Cry: Keep Me True (3 Jn. 3-4) (Part 4)

We must reciprocate God's heart cry with our own.  Our heart cry is, or at least it should be, “Lord, keep me true.”

In the early eighties, there was a worship chorus that went like this:

“Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true.
Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true.
There's a race that I must run.
There are victories to be won.
Every hour, give me power to be true.”

The writer of that chorus understood that staying true (walking in truth) wasn't always easy.  He also understood that so much is at stake when someone doesn't remain true to Jesus. 

Bring your heart cry to Jesus.  Tell Him: “Keep me true, Lord Jesus. Help me to know the truth, love the truth and live the truth. Just as the people in 3 John brought Pastor John joy because of their testimony that they walked in the truth, my desire is that I might bring You joy, Jesus, as Your Holy Spirit leads me into the truth and enables me to live it.'

Heart Cry: Keep Me True (3 Jn. 3-4) (Part 3)

Second, let's deal with the word “walking.”  “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col. 2:6).  The word “walking” suggests three things.

• It suggests beginning.  There was a time when you were not walking in the truth.  Something happened that compelled you to start walking.  That something is called repentance.
• It suggests process.  Once you took the first step, you took the second step, and then the third step, and so on.  Each successive step might not have been as easy as the previous, but you kept putting one foot in front of the other.  Process is determined by repetition, not distance.
• It suggests progress.  You don't want to keep putting one foot in front of the other, only to end up getting nowhere.  It is okay if progress is slow, so long as you are making progress.  If you aren't making progress, check the process.  If the process is altered, then progress is stalled.  In baseball a pitching coach talks to his pitchers about mechanics. If a pitcher's mechanics (process) are wrong, he won't consistently throw strikes (progress, results).

Pastor John didn't write that he was glad those in the congregation started in the truth.  He wrote that he was glad they were continuing in the truth, that they had adopted truth as their lifestyle.  The congregants lived it, and their testimony was obvious enough to Pastor John's helpers that they had to tell him.  These weren't just good people or moral people; they were truth- saturated people.  What they believed about Jesus affected every area of their lives.

We can't talk about walking (living) in the truth without mentioning certain things.

• Those who walk in the truth will develop the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
• Those who walk in the truth will follow through on their word (Mt. 5:37).
• Those who walk in the truth will not avoid reality by pretending (Prov. 13:7).
• Those who walk in the truth will not pursue crooked business deals (Prov. 20:14).
• Those who walk in the truth will not seethe on the inside while they smile on the outside (Eph. 4:25)

Heart Cry: Keep Me True (3 Jn. 3-4) (Part 2)

First, let's deal with the word “truth.”  Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (Jn. 18:38).   I don't think Pilate was trying to be philosophical – sarcastic, maybe, but not philosophical.  It seems to me that he didn't know what truth was, or didn't believe such a thing was attainable, so he asked.

Pilate is similar to many people today.  They have been taught to believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth.  They have been taught that truth, whatever it might be, is for each person to define. When this happens, you end up with a situation similar to Judges 21:25: “ . . . every man did what was right in his own eyes.”  Why had truth become so relative, so individualized, so neutered?  “In those days there was no king . . .”

You can say you live in a Christian nation all you want.  That isn't the issue. The issue is whether you will submit to the King. His name is Jesus.  It appears we don't have a King (capital 'K' - Jesus) in the United States.  We have 380 million of them!

Truth is your final authority to which you appeal when making decisions or declaring statements.  It is a system of belief that invades, infects and directs your thoughts, intentions, desires, behaviors, pursuits, actions, conclusions and speech.  It is a filter that determines what you will and won't consider, allow or investigate.

When someone says, “There is no such thing as truth,” he or she is not speaking truthfully.  Certainly, he or she has some rationale for choosing to live the way he or she does, even if that rationale is selfishness or rebellion.  That rationale usually begins with the word “I.”

• I feel that . . .

• I think that . . .

• I believe that . . .

The problem is that the King has written His own truth and He expects all people to follow it.  Once His truth is altered, minimized, trivialized or marginalized, it displeases Him, and the failure to adhere to His standard won't produce His desired results for individuals, families, businesses or nations.  Once His truth is customized, editorialized or criticized, the King takes notice.  The King of the Universe takes offence at the profaning of His high standard!

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life . . .” (Jn. 14:6).  Notice the three-letter word “the.”  It doesn't say “a.” That's the indefinite modifier.  No, it says “the.” That's the definite modifier.  The definite modifier is absolute and exclusive.  When Jesus said, “I am . . . the truth . . . “, He said that there could be no other source.  That doesn't mean people listen to Him. That doesn't mean people agree with Him.

When it comes down to it, you must decide who is right: Jesus or you? Jesus or man? Jesus or society? Jesus or the philosophers? Jesus or postmodernism?  If you believe a source other than Jesus is right, then you are calling Jesus a liar. I'd be careful, if I were you!

Heart Cry: Keep Me True (3 Jn. 3-4) (Part 1)

Yesterday morning, we began a new series called “Heart Cry.”  The idea of crying might not be popular, but the idea of heart tied in with Valentine's Day.

When you think of Valentine's Day, what comes to mind? Responses from the congregation included

love, romance, flowers, candy, cards, and expense.  Every man knows that, on Valentine's Day, you bring your wallet.  He is also wise enough to know this is money well invested!

Heart is an essential thing at Valentine's Day.  Agreed?  It helps if you have a heart.  It helps if you show it.  Aren't you glad for God's Valentine, Jesus Christ?  The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus were Hallmark moments: God showed his heart, his love, for sinners (Rom. 5:8).  He cared enough to send the very best.

We distributed boxes of heart candy and then asked, "Do you remember these from when you were a child?"  Congregants opened the boxes and put a few hearts in their hands.  I asked what the hearts said and allowed for responses.  (Some candy maker had a very long day at the office, and you can tell he or she was quickly losing creativity – and maybe sanity!)

Those were sayings written on candy hearts. I wonder what's written on God's heart?  Did anyone get a heart that said, “Be true”? Truth – that's one of the things on God's heart.

Our main Bible verses were Third John, verses three and four.

God's heart is that you would want what He wants for you.  What does God want for you?  God wants for you to walk in truth – to know the truth and live it.  If John, as a pastor, was so moved to hear that people in the church walked in the truth, how much more is God Himself moved when He sees this!  The key phrase in these verses is “walking in the truth.”