Weekend Message/Devotion
May 12, 2019
Follow Your Heart?
John 10:22-30
Sermon Prayer: “Heavenly Father, I stand before Your people, to deliver Your message. Though the words are mine and I prepared this message, I pray that this message is Your message in its entirety. I pray your blessing and anointing on the message, its delivery, its reception - and most of all, its application in our lives.” Amen
I have often been told to follow my heart when making decisions or making a choice. That advice may be good on many fronts, but it can also be fraught with pitfalls.
The following is from: - Did You Wash Your Hands? Contributed by Howard Gunter on Sep 2, 2018
[“When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.:” Mark 7:14-15
Dr. David McKenna says it well: “Jesus makes the ‘heart of man’ the source of sin.” The Communicator’s Commentary – Mark, Word Books, Waco, TX. Page 155]
I don’t know about you, but I confess before you that if I am not careful AND prayerful, my heart can lead me in a dark direction. In moments of nostalgia and moral weakness, I can just remember how much I enjoyed a cocktail hour, a cigar, and more dark temptations. Were I to yield to those desires, I would be denying my Lord and betraying His love. Folks, the key to understanding is to develop a close relationship with the Good Shepherd, Jesus the Christ and guarding our hearts that they may be pure and inviting to Him.
Lest you be confused, having the nostalgia and memories of illicit pleasures is not sinful nor a matter of the heart. UNLESS, we yield to them. It is when we yield to temptation that darkness creeps into our heart.
In this reading, Jesus is surrounded and hounded by throngs wanting to know forthright is He truly the Christ, the Messiah. “How long will you keep us in suspense?” (v-24)
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe.” (v-25) By His teachings and by His works, Jesus has been revealing His divinity, daily.
“In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (John 5:17)
“Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.” (John 7:14)
So why were they just not getting it? I believe that it goes right to the heart, they really didn’t want to believe. Haven’t you ever thought that you could believe in something, IF somehow it would just miraculously become part of your psych? Ever hear someone say, “I want to believe but I just cannot get it?”
That is what Jesus was encountering. These people may have wanted to believe but they wanted tangible evidence beyond just embracing Him as the Messiah, on faith alone, even if that faith was based upon spiritual insight.
A perfect example of spiritual insight lies in the following reading:
“Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” (Matthew 20:30)
Jesus says, “You are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (V-26-27)
So, I say to you this morning: Hear the voice of the Good Shepherd! Follow Him. Keep your heart pure, that He might abide with you. Gather with the flock of like believers in following that VOICE!
Let us pray.
I humbly and sincerely ask for your prayers!
https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/311609-how-to-pray-for-your-pastor-ronnie-floyd.html?utm_source=outreach-cl-daily-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read-more&utm_campaign=cl-daily-nl&maropost_id=&mpweb=256-7370272[HG1]
Note: It is the practice of this church to preach straight from the bible. We follow the lectionary assigned readings from which the sermon/messages are derived.
________________________________________
