Well, keep your Bibles open at Proverbs 16. And
also, just if you've got your bulletin there,
on the inside of the bulletin is a phone number.
We've got Q &A this week, so if you'd like to
text questions in, we'll have a Q &A time after
a couple of songs after the sermon. Now, I was
planning to preach this in the school holidays,
but it struck me this week as to just how important
this topic of why is within is. So I thought
I'd do it now while people aren't away. And we've
also got a little sheet for your growth group
if your growth group wants to do that. You might
want to have a social night or a night of prayer,
whatever, but there is a study available if you
want to do that. But let's pray. Let's ask God
for help as we look at his word now. Gracious
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you're a speaking
God and that you speak to us in your word. And
Father, may Your Word do its work on our hearts
today. May we love You more. May we become more
like Jesus. And we ask this in His Name. Amen.
Well, back in 2024, we were living in Broken
Hill and a big storm hit the town. It wiped out
seven old transmission towers. So it meant that
the power went out. But that's okay, because
they had these big, big diesel generators that
would power the town. Except they didn't work.
And so for weeks in Broken Hill, you might have
seen it in the news, we had rolling blackouts.
And that's pretty hard in a place that's 17 ,000
people in literally the middle of nowhere. It
was a big blind spot for those in charge. Why?
Because electricity touches so many things in
our lives, doesn't it? Our fridge wasn't working.
Our aircon wasn't working. We couldn't charge
our phones unless we drove around in the car
for a bit. Our stove happened to be electric.
Good thing we had a gas barbecue. Our lights
didn't work. Our TV didn't work. Our washing
machine didn't work because they all needed electricity.
And there was a bunch of newspaper articles that
came out at the time talking about the different
challenges that people had because of this. There
was one man in Broken Hill who was on dialysis.
He had a dialysis machine at home. And he was
trying to time it. Okay, there's power. I'm going
to charge my machine. I mean, what a stressful,
hard thing. There were HSC students who were
trying to get on the internet and study and do
all the things they need to do. They didn't have
any electricity. Café owners who lost a lot of
business and a lot of stock because there was
no electricity. Even the traffic lights didn't
work a lot of the time. It was a big blind spot
to ignore something that touches so much of our
lives. But what about us? Do we have a blind
spot like that? Something that we're ignoring
that touches so many aspects, maybe even every
aspect of our lives? Well, today I want to show
you that I think we do. See, I think there's
something that touches our relationship with
God. touches how we relate to our spouse if you
have one, touches how you parent if you've got
kids, touches how you work if you go to work,
touches the friendships that you have, touches
your body, touches what you buy and purchase,
touches how you use your phone, touches how you
turn up to church and treat people. And sadly,
it's something that we often neglect. What is
it? It's your heart. sometimes what the Bible
calls your spirit. It's your inner self. So your
heart is so important because it shapes, it touches
all that you do, every aspect of your life. Yet
it's so easily ignored because it goes unseen
and life is pretty busy and fast -paced. I've
got so many things to do. I've got another thing
to get done. And because it's this important,
that's why Proverbs tells us this. Above all
else, guard your heart, for everything you do
flows from it. The heart is so crucial, that
inner world we have is so important. What's the
Bible mean by heart? I love Murray Cappell's
summary. He puts it like this. He says, it's
composed of four things essentially. Our conscience,
so it's to do with our moral compass. It's to
do with our mind, our thinking and our reasoning.
It's to do with our decisions, our will and the
choices we make. And it's to do with our passions,
our desires, our affections and our emotions
as well. And so today I want us to look at the
heart and I want to show you why your heart is
more important than you might think. I want to
show you how to guard your heart, how to protect
it, how to rule over it and manage it. So here's
the big thing we're going to see today. It's
just like that verse really. Guard your heart
because it touches everything you do. If there's
one thing you remember from today, guard your
heart because it touches everything you do. And
here's just some of the key ways that our hearts
touch everything we do. Our hearts impact our
choices, our hearts impact our bodies, and our
hearts impact our bonds, our relationships. So
let's have a look at the first one. Our hearts
impact our choices. Have a look at this great
verse from Proverbs 16 32. Whoever's slow to
anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules
his spirit, that internal world, then he who
takes a city. So when you read this verse, you're
meant to think of history's great conquerors
and warriors. In our day, we might think of people
like Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, maybe
Napoleon, despite his height. If you're not a
student of history, okay, I can help you out.
Think Braveheart, think Rambo, or if you're just
a gym junkie, think of the guy at the gym who's
got no neck because he's so tank. You know that
guy? And this is saying, if you can be self -controlled,
if you can rule your emotions and your inner
world, and in this context here it's especially
anger, But if you can rule your inner world,
you're better off than those other people, than
the mighty, than the conquerors. Because true
power is not muscles and success. It's conquering
yourself. Ruling your internal world is a better
ambition than almost all others. Because if you
can rule your internal world, it changes how
you speak, how you make decisions, how you react
in tense moments, how you think. It touches all
that you do. Now, I don't know about you, I find
this pretty hard. Why do we find it so hard?
Well, it's because our emotions and not our rational
mind is usually driving things far more than
we realise. I mean, we live in a fallen world
and so our internal world doesn't really work
as it's meant to. It's a bit like this. A while
ago, our boys played a little trick on their
little sister. They were all playing Mario Kart
together and their little sister came along and
they wanted to play Mario Kart on the TV with
them. But they didn't really want her to do that
because she was very slow at driving and but
they also didn't want to deal with her having
a tantrum. So what they did was they handed her
a controller when it wasn't connected and they
didn't tell her. So she was there and she's like
you know driving along when it was actually someone
else who was driving the whole time. Now that
happens in our hearts all the time. We think
our minds, our rational self are in the driver's
seat. But so often it's our emotions. Our emotions
so often are calling the shots, but we don't
see it because our minds rationalise what our
emotions want. Can you think of times where you
might do this? You're tired after a long day
of work. And on the way home, you're like, oh,
that little light comes on, I need some petrol.
And you go in to pay for the petrol, and there
you see it, that row of chocolates. And you go,
oh, I'm so tired, I've got so much to do at home,
and I am trying to eat healthy at the moment,
but I do need a little bit of energy. And so
you buy a chocolate, just the one, hopefully,
with the petrol. Now, what was driving you at
that time? Was that your rational brain? I don't
actually think so. I think it was probably your
emotional brain. It was you going, I need those
chocolates. I need to feel good. And your rational
brain goes, OK, like a little lawyer, yes, I
can help. Here are five justifications as to
why you should do that. Or you might have that
same fight with wifey. She's, again, giving you
some non -constructive criticism. And what do
you do? You snap back. Yeah? Well, do you know
what you do? You're doing this, this and this.
And you think to yourself, well, that's perfectly
reasonable. We're just having a debate, trying
to work out the logic of the situation. No, if
that's your emotional brain and your rational
brain is jumping in saying, yes, here are some
reasonable excuses. If you were thinking with
your rational brain, you'd be doing things differently.
You'd be going, yeah, I don't think escalating
the situation is the best move right now. Now,
there's so many scenarios like that, isn't there?
Where we have things, it feels rational, it feels
logical, but actually we're just reacting and
our emotions are driving things. They're not
giving us signals and information, they're in
the driver's seat. So how do we change this?
How do we rule our internal world? Well being
aware of it is a good start, isn't it? But then
on top of that we want to start developing skills.
There's this great free app, it's not a Christian
one, it's just a secular one, called How We Feel.
And I found it really helpful for me. There's
great tools in it for emotional regulation. And
I think it's important that Christians learn
those skills of pausing and breathing. There's
this great one called a body scan, which can
really help with things like anxiety and other
emotions. Things like reframing and just trying
to get a new perspective on things. So those
are good tools. But even more important is that
we let Jesus minister to our hearts. That we
let the truth of the gospel soothe our fears,
fill us with joy, calm our anger. That's what
Paul tells us. to do all over the New Testament.
And here's just one example. He says, and let
the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which
indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.
We rule our spirits by letting Christ's peace
rule in our hearts. So that means preaching the
gospel to yourself. Okay, you know, Hang on,
what's God done for me? Oh, that's right, he
sent his son Jesus to bear all the wrath that
should have been mined for my sin, for all the
times I've done the wrong thing, all the times
I've been reactive and not sensible, all the
times I've done evil and hurt others. Jesus died
for that. And I now have peace with God. I'm
right with God. Me and God are like this. It's
reminding ourselves of those truths of the gospel.
It's bringing the gospel to bear on our lives.
It's connecting it to our fears, our worries,
our identity and our outlook. So that when you
do get criticised, rather than reacting, you
step back and you go, hang on, hang on, okay,
I see that I'm loved by God. I see I'm at peace
with God. And actually, right now that person
who's criticising me, well, they might be...
you know, let's say they're a Christian, you
go, wow, they're a Christian. We've got far more
in common than we do that sets us apart. We're
one in Christ. They're someone that Jesus died
for. And it changes how you think about them,
how you see the whole situation, doesn't it?
So let me ask, will you take the time to work
on this? It's so, so important. Our hearts touch
everything we do, especially our choices. But
our hearts do more than that. They also affect
our bodies. Our hearts impact our bodies and
vice versa. Our bodies actually impact our hearts.
I don't know if you've thought about this, but
the Bible presents humanity as a psychosomatic
unity. Not that you're a psycho, but psycho is
mind and somatic is body. So we're a mind -body
unity. Each of us is one being with an inner
self and an outer body. And the two actually
play off each other. We get one side here in
Proverbs. It's focusing on one aspect of it.
But light in a messenger's eyes brings joy to
the heart. And good news gives health to the
bones. The bones is the bodily part, isn't it?
Or a joyful heart is good medicine. It affects
your whole person. But a crushed spirit dries
up the bones. So the inner world affects our
outer body. And if we have a biblical anthropology,
understanding of how humans work, we should be
all over this. And yet Christians, and myself
included, we often ignore this to our peril.
We get stressed out, we get overwhelmed, we get
anxious, we get depressed, and our body gives
us signals that things aren't right within us.
And what do we do? Stiff up a lip, keep calm
and carry on, don't we? Without the actual keep
calm, we just carry on. We ignore them. We don't
look at ourselves holistically and we actually
damage ourselves and others as well. For years
and years and years I had a horrible nasal drip.
I would wake up in the mornings and, you know,
I think probably cause PTSD on my kids from all
the hacking and trying to get it all out in the
shower. Sorry if that was a bit vivid for you,
but you know, hope it doesn't haunt you either.
And I'd go to doctors, I tried all sorts of medication,
I even got nose surgery, thanks for noticing
if you like it. But a few years back, I learned
about processing stress, I learned about emotional
regulation, I learned a bit more about self care.
And do you know what happened to my nasal drip?
It started to go away. It's bizarre. Spent all
that money on the other things, but you know.
And sometimes it comes back. It comes back when
I'm tired or stressed. For years my nervous system
was chronically activated. It was like a fire
alarm going all the time. That's what my body
was living with and that's exhausting. It's bad
for your health. Now for some people it's headaches,
for some people it's rashes, for some people
it's digestion issues, and if you don't deal
with it, it can lead to some massive issues later
on in your life as well. Now I'm not here saying
that every ailment is caused by that sort of
inner world being out of whack. You know, if
you break your ankle in a soccer game, you broke
your ankle in a soccer game not because of your
inner world but because you maybe went for a
tackle you shouldn't have or whatever it might
be. But I do want to say that sometimes our body
gives us signals that things in our inner world
aren't right. And it works the other way too.
Our bodies impact our inner self. So we might
be on edge, we might be grumpy, we might be anxious
because we haven't done the things that our bodies
need and it affects our inner world. You know,
if we haven't had enough sleep or we haven't
had enough water or anything like that. I don't
know if you've thought about it, but you actually
see this psychosomatic connection in the Gospels,
in Jesus' final hours. Remember Jesus in Gethsemane?
He's there sweating drops of blood. Why? Because
he's feeling the inner anguish. What could be
worse in the universe than facing the wrath of
God? Jesus is about to drink the cup of God's
wrath. And that inner anguish was having a physical
effect on him. And praise God, Jesus endured
that to save us from our sins. Hallelujah, what
a saviour. But how does seeing that, seeing both
what we saw in Proverbs and seeing Jesus in the
Gospels, how does that help us live our Christian
lives better? Well, it actually helps with wise,
godly living. I love this quote from Don Carson.
Here's what he says. Sometimes the godliest thing
you can do in the universe is get a good night's
sleep. Not pray all night. But sleep? I'm certainly
not denying that there may be a place for praying
all night. I'm merely insisting that in the normal
course of things, spiritual discipline obligates
you to get the sleep your body needs. Isn't that
wise? See, Jesus didn't go through Gethsemane
every night. He picked his moment. Most nights
he was getting a good night's sleep. But with
Gethsemane, he could see the cross ahead, he
could see the trial that was at hand, and he
prayed to his father. So what I'm trying to say
is there are times that we need to pick our moment.
There are times where we push through. But that's
not the norm. Jesus shows us balance. I mean,
think about it this way. Being godly is hard
enough. Don't you reckon? It's hard enough to
just be godly. So much harder if we're tired,
stressed, our bodies are run down. Why would
we make it harder on ourselves? But not only
that, what's going on in our bodies alerts us
to our hearts. It's easy to ignore our inner
world and just push through. But when our body
is flaking, that's a signal that maybe our hearts
might not be in a good place. Maybe it's time
to stop and sort out our stress, our anxiety,
our insecurities, whatever's going on within.
Is your body telling you something? Is it telling
you that something's going on in your heart?
Are you using your body to guard your heart?
Do you know, sometimes people come to me as a
passer and they've got big challenges. Sometimes
they say, hey, Brandon, I'm feeling really disillusioned
with God right now. And I'll check the issue.
I'll listen, hey, tell me what's going on in
your life that's making you feel that way. But
one of the things I'll also do is say to them,
hey, tell me, how's your sleep going? Are you
getting enough water? Are you eating okay? Are
you getting enough exercise? These are all things
that contribute to what's going on within us.
I know it's affected me. It's something I'm always
trying to work on and get better at because I
know the impact these things can have. But that's
not all. Our hearts not only impact our choices,
they not only impact our bodies, but they also
impact our bonds, our relationships with others.
I've been parenting five neurodivergent kids
for a little while now. Do you know the best
bang for buck lesson that I've learnt? Parenting's
not so much about managing them, it's more about
managing myself. My internal world sets the tone.
I can be a thermostat where I can kind of control
the temperature of things or I can be a thermometer.
I just reflect the temperature of things and
usually make things worse. Have a look at this
verse. Discipline your son for there is hope.
Do not set your heart on putting him to death.
Now, did you notice that? It's his internal world,
the father's internal world here, that's the
focus. If your heart feels hopeless, if this
father goes, oh, there's just no point disciplining
this kid. Everything I tried just backfires.
It doesn't work. I'm giving up. Well, then he's
setting his heart on putting him to death. That
is, This kid's going to grow up to be foolish
and end up in a place of calamity. There's a
different way. He needs to manage what's going
on within him. The dad needs to manage what's
going on within him. Starts with himself. Okay,
I'm not going to feel hopeless about this situation.
I'm going to see that there is things I can do
that there is a way for. Even if I have to start
small, I'm going to start small. I'm going to
do something. Changing his own outlook changes
the dynamic. And I reckon that's the same with
all healthy relationships. Self -management is
the key. Drill this into your head. This is one
I've tried to drill into my head. It's helped
me so much. You can't change others, but you
can change yourself. You can't change others
but you can change yourself. Actually, when I've
tried to change others it usually backfires.
Marriages improve when each partner cleans up
their side of the street. Workplaces improve
when we focus on what we're bringing to the table.
Relationships crumble when we blame, blame, blame,
blame and never work on our own hearts. Now,
I know there are exceptions. I know there's some
times where you're dealing with a narcissistic
somebody or whatever it might be. There are exceptions
that prove the rule, aren't there? But the norm
is we've got to work on ourselves. And if you're
here today and you're thinking, yes, I'm really
glad that they're here to hear this, no, you
do too. We need to be asking, what am I bringing
to the table? Maybe you're adding extra meaning
to things that isn't there or catastrophising
things. Maybe you're mind reading, maybe you're
going, I know what they're thinking and they
haven't said anything. I remember there was a
lady at a church I worked at, she left our church.
It was really sad. Why did she leave our church?
Because there was another lady in church who
looked at her. And this lady said, oh, she looked
at me funny. She doesn't like me. I'm not welcome
here. And so she left our church. And sadly,
I only found all these things out years later.
I was like, really? That's why I can tell you.
Adding meaning to things. Or it's possible that
in our relationships, Past hurts or traumas can
amplify present hurts and traumas. You know,
someone does something to you that's level 3
and it's serious and it's a thing, but it's not
a level 8. And you're perceiving it as a level
8. That can happen. It might not be, I'm just
saying. It's a possibility. Maybe in your relationships
you bury your head in the sand. When things get
hard, when things are difficult, maybe you get
defensive, maybe you're overly controlling. We
all have different stuff that we bring to the
table. But we've got to ask, what am I bringing
to the table? And one of the beauties of the
Gospel of God's grace is that it allows us to
face the dark parts of ourselves, know that we're
loved, know that we're forgiven, and then change.
But it's not just human relationships that our
hearts impact. Our hearts were made to love and
enjoy God above all else. Yet all sorts of things
can derail our hearts from loving God too. Have
a look at this verse. Blessed is the one who
fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his
heart will fall into calamity. You're doing the
dishes. The dishwasher's broken or maybe there's
a power outage and you've got no electricity.
Been there, done that. You're doing the dishes
in the sink and you've got your sponge there
and you've got a plate there. What's the sponge
do? It absorbs things, doesn't it? It absorbs
the water. But the plate, it absorbs nothing.
Things just wash over it, don't they? Well now,
I want you to think this every time you're doing
the dishes in the sink. Is your heart like a
sponge or like that plate of stone? Which one
isn't? Because that's something we've got to
keep guard on with our hearts. Our hearts can
easily become hearts of stone. They can get hardened
with God's Word just washes over them and it
stops absorbing God's Word and taking it in.
When God's Word stops impacting our hearts, that's
a big red flag that we're in spiritual danger.
Or perhaps the danger comes from pain in your
life. Have a look at this verse. Yesterday one
of my kids broke something that belonged to one
of my other kids. There were consequences for
doing that. And our kid chose to be really angry
at me as the dealer of consequences. It's very
easy to be angry at God, isn't it? It's a bit
like us. It's easy to blame God when we've done
something wrong in our life, when our life has
gone into ruin because of choices we've made.
And it doesn't always happen because of choices
we've made. Sometimes it's just accidental. Sometimes
it's not our fault. But there are times where
our folly leads us to ruin. And it's so easy
to wash our hands of it. Lord, I prayed to you
about that. You didn't do anything about it rather
than looking at, well, what did I bring to the
table there? Have I repented of that? Have I
owned my folly and failures here? Often our heart
rages against God because we can't face our own
folly. See, both that anger and heart -heartedness
is easy to slip into if we don't guard our hearts.
So, how do you guard your heart? Keep marvelling
at Christ's beauty. When you read the Word, don't
just go, tick, I've read the Word, go, I've got
a job to do here. I'm going to see how glorious
Jesus is today. That's why we crack open the
Bible. Confess your sins to God. Own them. Come
to Him. Ask for forgiveness. Keeps your heart
soft. Constantly thank God. Count your blessings.
Literally count them. Heed God's wisdom in His
Word so that you've got less folly in your life.
Doing those things keeps your heart safe. Are
you guarding it like that? Alright, let's wrap
up. We've seen today that our hearts are so important.
Our hearts impact our choices, our hearts impact
our bodies, and our hearts impact our bonds,
our relationships. You know, Jesus died not just
to forgive you of your sins, as crucial and as
important as that is. And He died not just to
save you from hell, He died not just to give
you eternal life, He also died to give you a
new heart. He died so that your old self would
be crucified with Him, that your sinful nature,
that nature within you that seeks self -preservation
at any cost, that nature within you that follows
desires no matter how unloving they are, that
nature within you that says, I know better than
God. He died so that that nature would lose its
power over you. He died so that he could send
his spirit, so that his spirit would transform
and renovate your inner world. He died so that
you'd see the world differently, have a new security,
a new identity, a new outlook. If you're not
yet a Christian, this is all on offer. This wonderful
new inner world is available to you. If you're
there and you've got questions or you want to
talk about it, you want to have that for yourself,
come chat with me after I'd love to talk to you
about it. But if you're a Christian, I hope you'll
respond today by doing this. Guard your heart.
Guard your heart because it touches everything
you do. Shoring up that power supply in Broken
Hill was crucial because it touched so many things
in people's lives. But your heart touches even
more things in more important ways. So to neglect
it or ignore it, that would be a huge blind spot.
But we do, don't we? Some of us here, we're tired
and busy. And so you might be sitting here and
you're thinking, okay, Brendan, you're just adding
another thing on my plate. But nothing is more
pressing and urgent than this. Our hearts bleed
into everything we do. For some of us, we're
activists. We're so consumed with taking care
of others because it feels good when we do or
because we feel safe when we do. But what we
really need to do is sort out our own hearts.
It's like when you're in the plane and the oxygen
masks come down, hope that hasn't happened to
you, but when they do, because of the turbulence,
what do they say? Put on your own mask before
you assist others. There's some of us here who
need to get some gospel oxygen into our hearts
before we assist anyone else. For some of us
here, our problem is we have that stiff upper
lip syndrome. Our motto is don't cause a fuss,
just push through. Now our hearts are important
enough that we need to stop and work through
things deeply. For years I thought I was doing
pretty good hard work on myself. Do you know
what? Turns out it was pretty shallow. And a
few years ago it caught up with me. My relationship
with God was pretty sour. My marriage could have
been better. My relationship with my kids was
tough. And I was full of insecurity, stress and
anxiety. I made choices not from a place of calm,
but from fear. I had no boundaries. I had no
real wisdom about how to take care of myself.
I was run down. My body was falling apart. I
ignored the signals because, hey, I've just got
so much to get done. And then it was easy to
blame everyone else and sometimes even God, rather
than ignore my part in it all. I was living as
a human doing, not as a human being. And then
some things went wrong, some health things in
our family, some stresses at church, and I just
realised things needed to change. And I'm so
glad that they did. It's something I see that
I need to keep working on all the time now. But
let me encourage you, don't make the same mistakes
that I did. Search your heart now. Drill the
Gospel deeply into it. You could start with just
one hour a week. Write down what's going on in
you and try and bring the Gospel to bear on it.
And if you want help with that, come talk to
me. I've got ideas, books, resources I can help
you with. But please don't walk out that door
today and ignore this. Actually, let me close
with this. Think how good life would be if all
of us took our hearts more seriously. Just picture
it. You'd have this deep joy and satisfaction
in God that spills into everything. If you're
there feeling disillusioned and distant with
God, you'd go and talk about it and reflect on
it and work on it and then the delight again
in God starts to come back. Our marriages would
be richer and closer. Parents and kids would
have a deeper bond with one another. As a church,
we'd be better at caring for one another. We'd
be more harmonious. We'd all be making wiser
and better choices, becoming our best selves,
becoming more like Christ. And think about the
witness that would have. Wow, those Christians,
they're onto something, aren't they? But that
only can happen if we do that work on our hearts.
Let's not neglect it. Let's pray. Father, help
us to guard our hearts. Help us to see how crucial
and important they are. Please, Father, let us
not ignore or neglect this. Help us to take to
heart how important our hearts are. And we ask
this in Jesus' name. Amen.