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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Eagle Community Church of Christ Podcast. My name is John Gunter. This week, we are talking about one of, these 9 common lies, a book by Shane Pruitt that, and I'm I'm really just enjoying this. Each one is different.
John Gunter:This week we're talking about the lie. Just follow your heart. You ever heard that? You ever said that to someone? Yeah.
John Gunter:It's so ingrained in our culture that, this one may take a little work to get out. So what does the Bible actually say about the heart? What does Jesus say about the heart? Yeah, you're gonna want to hear this. Thanks for listening.
John Gunter:Well, good morning again. Thank you for being here whether you're here in person or worshiping online. I've got a couple worshiping online today. Logan's still healing from his his tonsils. I think he's about full of, soft food.
John Gunter:So, I asked him, I said, what do you, what do you miss most? What are you gonna eat first when you when you get cleared? He said, a hamburger. Amen. I want one of those too.
John Gunter:So, thank you all for your your prayers, and he received cards and gifts this week. He he may wanna have surgery again soon. I don't know. But, thank you all for your, very kind and generous gifts and time. I wanted to mention this.
John Gunter:Scott mentioned our Wednesday nights. We are using this little book by Tom Rayner, called I Will, 9 Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian. This is I had planned to do this for like 20 minutes out of the time, and then do Ephesians for 20 minutes, that just won't work. We filled up the whole time, with the introduction this week, so each week we will try to do a chapter of this and then after that, we will probably go into Ephesians. But a great, I brought it last week, it's a very small book, Tom Rainer does really concise things that are always very thoughtful and thought provoking.
John Gunter:And so, we'd encourage you to be here Wednesday nights throughout the summer at 6 PM. Remember, during our school year, we'll be back in small groups, but during the summer, we'll be, we'll be here at 6. So remember this, and also, on Sunday mornings, we've been going through this book. I thought it would be a good idea to kind of, this is kind of a topical thing, and so since we are kind of in and out all summer, if you miss one, you can catch up with it. But when you show up, you're not behind.
John Gunter:You've got a new topic each week. So again, this book that we're talking about is 9 Common Lies Christians Believe and Why God's Truth is infinitely better, and that's by Shane, Pruitt. So last couple of weeks, line number 3, god just wants me to be happy. You remember that one? You heard it before?
John Gunter:Yeah. God just wants me to be happy as if you can do anything you want to as long as you're happy and God's okay with that. Well, that's that's not what his word says. God has provided the ultimate joy to you and will provide the ultimate joy for all of us, getting to live with him. But the idea that God just wants me to be happy and I can run over whoever I want or live the kind of life I want or whatever is just not true.
John Gunter:Lie number 4 that we talked about last week, one that nobody struggles with, was one about forgiveness. Right? I could never forgive that person, which is a lie. Right? It's a lie that comes between ourselves and God because we hold that up.
John Gunter:We hold that grudge. We become even bitter about those things, and let this bitterness grow into something greater than it ever needed to be just because I refuse to forgive. And, of course, that is a lie. The lie that we are talking about today is follow your heart. You ever heard someone say, follow your heart?
John Gunter:Of course. Yeah, that has permeated our culture as well. Several years ago, Steve Jobs gave a commencement address, and, this is part of Shane Pruitt's book, and I've typed it up here so you can so you can actually see it. But part of it Steve Jobs has greatly impacted the technology world, and he had already been diagnosed with cancer at this point, but this is an excerpt from part of that. No one wants to die.
John Gunter:Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. Can we say amen to that? We are kind of scared to say that, but I think it's absolutely true. He says, And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.
John Gunter:And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. I don't know if I agree with that, but it is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. That sounds a little harsh, but okay. Right now, the new is you.
John Gunter:Again, he's talking to a graduating class. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Yeah, not too long is absolutely correct, isn't it? Not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
John Gunter:Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Now, I like most of that, but as I just read to you there, follow your heart. Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
John Gunter:Follow your heart is not a lie for, just individuals. It is a lie for our church. It is a lie for our society. It is a life for everything. It is as if we should trust our hearts as if it is an all knowing guide.
John Gunter:Even the things that you ever you ever experienced something where you thought, I know that will make me happy, and then you did it? And you realize that doesn't make me happy? Even those things, you ever found, having fun and a hobby and then you tried to make a business of it or you you got into it more and you thought, yeah, that's not nearly as fun as what I thought. That's really what we experience with, with the heart. Is because we think we know what we want, and that's just it may not be the case.
John Gunter:So why would we follow that? So, just to finish up what he said here, They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Again, following your own heart as if it knows everything. So what is the heart?
John Gunter:Heart in Hebrew is leb or labab. Greek is cardia. You hear cardiologist in that. Cardia. That is what the heart is.
John Gunter:So what does following the heart mean? What is the heart? Well, the word carries with it the meaning and belief that the heart is the hub of our emotions, our desire producer, and the center of our being. So, love your God with all of your heart. So when, Jesus is saying that, we're saying this with the idea that, again, this is the hub of our emotion.
John Gunter:We still use it this way, don't we? Yeah, heart and mind, we see that as 2 different things, right? Intuition versus how I feel, something like that. Again, the hub of our emotions, our desire producer, and the center of our being. And so following the heart would mean follow someone, something will lead me.
John Gunter:So what will lead me are my feelings, desires, and emotions. You sure you want that? Have you ever woken up on the wrong side of the bed, as we like to call it? Have you ever walked around during the day and thought, what am I upset about? We are human beings.
John Gunter:We have hormone things going on. Guys, it's Father's Day. Don't tell your wife anything about it, or ask her about anything hormonal going on today, nothing like that. But we all have different things going on that that shift the way we feel. We have interactions with people that that change how I feel on this given day.
John Gunter:Right? If after this sermon, you know, somebody comes up and says, that's the worst sermon I have ever heard, that is gonna change the rest of my day. Right? And so my feelings, my emotions, my heart is going to be in a little bit different place than it was before, right? And do I really want to follow that and the way I would feel then?
John Gunter:Do I really want to follow my heart? One thing you see in the Psalms is you see back and forth and how people feel about God in any particular time. From Psalm 123:1, I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit in throned in heaven. And that sounds wonderful. Right?
John Gunter:And sometimes you feel that, don't you? Like, I I just wanna praise God. Lord, I lift my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. And then some days or sometimes or some situations calls for Psalm 69:3, I am worn out calling for help. My throat is parched.
John Gunter:My eyes fail looking for my god. Which one of those you wanna follow? Yeah. Well, maybe the first one would be a little better, but do we not experience both at times? There are times in deep struggle where you go, okay, God, I don't see a way out of it.
John Gunter:Where are you at in this? Yeah? We're afraid to do that but Psalms is full of it. Psalms has plenty to say in the negative about God and how I feel. We are the only ones guarding our heart.
John Gunter:The psalmist says, Here it is. This is how I feel at this time. So if I follow my heart, I may be all over the place. You ever experienced that before? One day like this, the next day like this.
John Gunter:We've talked about buyer's remorse, how it's almost like a magic. The day before, that's the only thing I needed. I had to have it. We talked in class this morning. You ever been scrolling on social media and come across something you didn't know existed, but now you have to have it 5 minutes later?
John Gunter:I have ordered so many things on Amazon before that when I got a box I couldn't remember what I ordered. Anybody been there before? Because in the moment, I needed to have it, but it was so important that I forgot what it was between the time I ordered it and the time I got it. And by the way, we get it pretty quick right here. But that's what following your heart is, it's all over the place, back and forth.
John Gunter:Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? And I say amen to that. I wish I could. I wish I knew how to wrap my mind around all of this, but that's just the case.
John Gunter:The heart can be all over the place. In Mark 21-twenty 3, Jesus says this, For it is from within out of a person's heart that evil thoughts come, come sexual sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. He's not done. All these evils come from inside and defile a person. This comes from within.
John Gunter:Also, you see in Matthew 15:11, what goes into someone's mouth is not defiled, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. Anybody feel like sometimes I need a better filter from what comes out? Been there? I told you guys I'm going through a biography of George Washington, so you probably get a lot of George Washington quotes for a little bit. But what I am kind of enamored with, with him, he was very conscious about how, he reacted to things.
John Gunter:They think he had a pretty bad temper, but he was very conscious about not letting that out. More of us should be that way, I believe. Instead of saying, It's my right to do this, he really tried to to keep it in. He he was such an interesting man that he rarely got that upset. Even when British officers were leaving New York, he sent them a message that said, you would thought it he was writing to a friend.
John Gunter:You know, I hope you have a safe trip back to England. Right? Now I would say that with a lot of sarcasm. Right? But he he he seemed to think, yeah.
John Gunter:Yeah. We want to treat people simply. He even tried to, kidnap the king's son, and he made sure his men knew if you capture him, you treat him as if he's one of us. Now, that kind of blows our minds today, doesn't it? Because we know how we might treat someone like that or how much anger we have of somebody that has done something to us because out of the heart, out of those feelings and emotions, you did that to me, then anger and all these things come.
John Gunter:Right? So what if I said and this is from the book. This is not, my, my thing here, but I think it's fantastic. So what if I said to you, I have a person I would like to introduce you to. In fact, I believe this person could be a great mentor for you.
John Gunter:He should be your leader and your guide, and you should do whatever he tells you to do. Follow him and trust him. Well, that's kind of okay. Everybody needs a good mentor. I'll say that right now.
John Gunter:You need a mentor. You need someone that's, maybe someone that's contemporary with you. You need someone's older than you. You need to be around people that have lived life. So what if I said, I've got the person for you?
John Gunter:And you said, oh, how about that? Wanna know about him? Sure. Well, he's deceitful above all things and is desperately sick. He also produces evil thoughts, has a tendency towards sexual immorality, likes to steal and kill, commits adultery, covets, and is wicked, envious, slanderous, and prideful.
John Gunter:To top it all off, he's also foolish. And your answer to that is, what? No. Thank you. That's right.
John Gunter:I think I'll, just head out on my own. And by the way, please don't recommend anything else to me. Right? But this is what Jesus said your heart is like. So when Steve Jobs or anyone else says, follow your heart, this is who you would be following.
John Gunter:So is that the way to live the life you want to live? We, as His church, are people who should be following not our hearts but Jesus. We should be following Jesus Christ who was sent to die for all of our sins. We need people. And on this Father's Day, I'm going to speak directly to the men for just a second.
John Gunter:Men, we need people to claim this right here. What we need is a renewal or revival of people who care and care deeply about God and His Word. Not being led by our hearts because that can put us all over the map from one mood to another, one interaction to another, but be guided by the very Word of God. Hebrews 412 says, For the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
John Gunter:It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Did you hear that? What we need is not leadership of our own heart and emotions. What we need is to be led by the Word of God. It's not enough to know that.
John Gunter:It's not enough to sit here and amen that. What it means is we need to get in the word. We need to understand his word. We need to live out his word. This morning in class, we're talking about Luke 11, where Jesus really gets on the church people here, the Pharisees and the experts in the law, because Jesus sat down with, one of these Pharisees and he said, well, Pharisees said, well, I noticed you didn't wash.
John Gunter:And you might think, well, that's kinda gross, Jesus. Why don't you wash your hands? Jesus looked at the man and he said, well, you guys are so worried about washing the outside, but you're not concerned at all with washing the inside. That's what it's all about. Right?
John Gunter:We don't come here to hear the word of god and just agree and go our separate ways. We hopefully come to hear the word of god and allow it to do this, to penetrate, to separate, to change what is going on inside. Because that's what matters. Right? What doesn't matter is how I look to all of you this morning.
John Gunter:John either has it going on or I wish John would step it up. You know, one of the 2. Because what we can do is just be so concerned with coming and putting on the church face and, man, I got my box checked. I made it this week. I even read a verse before I got there, so I could say as a daily Bible reader.
John Gunter:That doesn't matter. I want you to read your Bibles, but that doesn't matter. What matters is change going on inside a person. Jesus didn't call you to come and just know the right things. He called you to have a right relationship with Him.
John Gunter:That takes work. That takes honesty, that takes looking in the mirror, that takes, I don't know, effort. You have to care. You have to want this to happen. Following your heart doesn't get there, get you there.
John Gunter:The Word of God does. You understand? Do you love His word? Do you care about His word? Do you understand what God has done for each and every one of us, that He cared so much that He sent His Son to die for you?
John Gunter:And maybe we say it too much. You think? Maybe we have said it so much that when you hear, Jesus has died for me, it doesn't even impact you anymore. Maybe we need to have a Bible class. I was, I don't know if we've done that here, but when I was about, I don't know, it might have been 4th or 5th grade.
John Gunter:We had a teacher at my church and she was, she was a fantastic lady. But she there's one Sunday where she wants to bring like all the things of the crucifixion. You ever been in a class like that? Like she brought the nails, she brought the crown of thorns, we walked out of that, that classroom changed, let me tell you. Because we didn't want that to happen to anybody, much less Jesus.
John Gunter:We knew He was important. But maybe we need to have something that impacts us because those words, Jesus died for you, have fallen on deaf ears. They're not that important anymore. What is it that's gonna change you? Is it coming and just trying to put on a nice face, or is it becoming real and authentic with your faith?
John Gunter:I said in class this morning, I wish we had time, and maybe we need to start doing this in our small groups, but I wish we had more time to have a testimony time. I grew up in a church, I love those people, love those people. And again, we weren't good about sharing anything. In fact, you are probably encouraged not to share because that might come up again. But all of Scripture will tell you what you need to do is confess sins one to another.
John Gunter:Why? To humiliate yourself? No. To be real and be honest and to show you actually care about all of this because every time I lay myself bare before God and before others, I am changed. I move closer to Him.
John Gunter:I wish we had a culture where some people call kneeling at the altar, which some churches have seen it before, have a big stage, and when the invitation comes, it gets flooded. We do a good job with our our prayer request, but I wish we we had a culture here where listen, I don't care if we're walking down an aisle, we're meeting somebody at the back or whatever, but I don't wanna leave when I encounter the word of God. I don't wanna leave without being changed. That's my prayer for the church. Would you pray that with me?
John Gunter:Would you pray for that with me? That we will get out of our own way, that we will stop being like the Pharisees, wondering what other people think about me, and get serious about the Word of God. Do you care? Do you care, church? Say amen if you care this morning.
John Gunter:Because if we become that church, we become something that's just unstoppable. The only thing that's gonna stop us is our own heads and our own hearts and how hard they are. You understand that? Because I promise you God wants to work in this place. God wants to work in all of you, He wants to work in this group of people, He wants to do something special in Mont Belvieu.
John Gunter:But will you participate? Are you okay just showing up and putting on a smiling face and, hoping to look good in front of other people? Are you living your life in a way that you're just driven by your emotions and what your heart wants at the moment? Are you actually following him? Desiring to live a life, again, led by God.
John Gunter:I'll be honest with you, as I thought about Father's Day, I thought, you know what? That's the only message I can come up with, is we just need to be led by God. I have had a lot of conversations with people, whether it's about parenting or leading a family or anything like that, and a bunch of people have some crazy ideas, you know that? And sometimes we just move away from the Word of God and, Well, I think it's just better if Why don't you go to Scripture and see what it says? See the principles found there and the way that you're supposed to love and lead and worship God and be led by Him.
John Gunter:Why don't you do that? Because if we do that, we will be guided into things I don't think we can even imagine. We are in a place right now that is too small for us, there's not enough parking. We hope to fix that. But what doesn't matter also is where we meet, does it?
John Gunter:Because we are the church, right? When you go to lunch in a few, and hopefully you don't yell at your server, you are the church. When you go to work this week and somebody cuts you off, you're still the church. When you go through every day and your boss says something, and, yeah, I don't really wanna be the church right now, but I am the church. Right?
John Gunter:You've been there. But again, we are not guided by those emotions, but guided by the love of God. Because we understand what kind of sacrifice he made for us. We return that love not only to him, but to others. So I want to encourage you this morning to do exactly that, to follow him, to get back to his word, to see it as important, and to open yourself up.
John Gunter:That we don't need to be tossed to and fro, but to become honest, become serious. Become people who love His word, are encouraged by it, and look to encourage others. So Jordan has an invitation song picked out. We'd love to pray with you if you want the prayers of this church. We don't have to share anything publicly if you don't want to.
John Gunter:We can just pray together. If you'd like to put on Christ in baptism today, we'd love to see that happen. But would you come as we stand?