Clean hands and a pure heart game series#

Proverbs 4:23 says, “ ABOVE ALL ELSE, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Read that with me.Ībove all else. Purity of heart will keep you on the protected path.īeing able to SEE God is a total game-changer, but often our spiritual eyesight is clouded because of a wrong and even sinful focus. There are plenty of paths to choose, friends, but there is only one path where you can walk with confidence and it is the pathway to purity that Jesus has paved for you. We need to see Him in our day-to-day activities and struggles because when we do, we will be steadied, we will have peace, we will be healed, we will know what to say in any circumstance, we will know what decisions to make regarding our health or finances or relationships, we will know when to change the plan for our day in order to be used by God, and we will walk on the path that is protected for us by Jesus.

We need to see Him present and active in our lives and on the world’s stage. And if there was ever a time that we needed to be able to SEE God in the here and now, it is now. Wanting to belong and be affirmed for who we are is a basic human need, but seeking the applause of men will always take us away from living for the applause of Christ which means spiritual compromise at some point.Īnd the problem is that living for any of the things that fall into those categories I have just described will keep us from seeing God in the here and now. There is nothing unusual about having fleshly desires, but when fleshly desires become the desire of our hearts, we have become slaves to something other than Christ. There is nothing wrong with wanting to possess nice things, but when nice things possess us, our hearts have been defiled. I will center my attention on looking a certain way or getting a certain number of social media followers or put my effort into being accepted into a certain friend group. If I set my heart on the approval of others, then what I live for changes. I liken it to trying to follow Jesus while walking backwards. You will never be satisfied, and you will be completely distracted from Kingdom Life. Feeding the flesh is like sinking into a bottomless pit. Feeding my flesh becomes what my heart is given to, and I will just say that the flesh is very selfish and greedy. If I set my heart on the things of the flesh, then I am drawn to images and opportunities that satisfy the urges of my flesh. That becomes what I am scanning the landscape to see, that becomes what I am searching for. If I set my heart on materialism above the things of God, materialism pulls me or ties me to the things of earth which causes me to constantly be turning to look whenever the possibility of more and more money or stuff is on the horizon. If you want a pure heart and the ability to see God, you must make a choice to look away from the things of this world and set your gaze on Jesus. It is when our hearts are cluttered and clouded and convoluted by being drawn to and given to the things of the world that our ability to see Jesus, to see God at work, gets stymied. Here is the principle: Purity of heart enables spiritual sight. While it is true that those whose hearts have been purified by the blood of Jesus will see God, those who are living with care for God’s commands, with a focus on the holiness of God and pleasing Him, who desire to be allegiant to Christ and Christ alone, those who are seeking to live with purity of heart, I believe they see God in the here and now. They think of the day when they will see Jesus, face to face. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” I think many read that verse and think of the day that they will enter eternity in Heaven. God desires for you to live with a pure heart. Your heart, the quality of your heart, the responsiveness of your heart, the commitment of your heart to God, is of utmost importance to Him. Today, I want to challenge you to get your heart in the game. The encouragement was to get your head in the game according to God’s game plan. We also talked about letting God control the plays for the battles in your life by seeking Him and following His lead while you worship Him no matter what battle you face because after all, “the battle is the Lord’s.” We moved from there to a more specific instruction for God’s game plan for your life which was protection for your mind. We said that it is God’s will for you to rejoice always, to pray continually and to give thanks in Christ Jesus (I Thess.

Clean hands and a pure heart game series#

We began this sermon series by laying out some general expectations regarding God’s game plan for your life. Psalm 24:3-4-Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.