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Already been extended.

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I'm glad you're here this morning.

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If we have not met before.
My name is Jeff.

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I'm on staff here at side.

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One of the pastors here, and I am not
the guy who's normally up here.

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So if today is your first day,
just know that we're doing things

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a little bit different around here today.

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Our senior pastor,
Pastor Carl, is in Ukraine.

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If you've spent
any amount of time around the church

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the last few weeks, really
the last few months,

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you know, that we've got the amazing
opportunity, through our partnership

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with Excell Leadership Network to do
Ministry of Church Planting in Ukraine.

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And that's where Pastor Carl is.

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We've been getting reports,
the last few days and even as recently

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as a few hours ago, of just the amazing
ministry that's going on there.

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If you're not
familiar with Excel Leadership Network,

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it is an organization
that exists to really do

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two simple, three simple things
identify high level leaders,

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raise them up and equip them
and send them out to plant churches.

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And we do it all over the world.

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We do it here in the United States,
but we also do it all over the world.

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We've done it in Guatemala, Cuba, Mexico,
and most recently,

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the opportunity to do it in the war
torn country of Ukraine has come up.

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And Pastor Carl
is sort of the tip of the spear as we,

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as we venture into that area and plant

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some churches there. So,

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be continuing to pray for him.

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One of the things that he talked about
last week is don't necessarily pray for

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safety, but pray for significance,
because that's what that is all about.

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That's what the work we're doing
there is all about.

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Some of you actually,
signed up to be part of a prayer group

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that is covering Pastor
Carl 24 hours in prayer.

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There's a ten hour time
differential between here and there.

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And so some of you are up late at night
praying.

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Others of
you are up early in the morning praying.

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So good on you.

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I just talked to Heather before service.

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There's more slots available for that,
so if you want to be part of that group,

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that is just kind of continually
praying around the clock for him.

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You can sign up in the Welcome Center.

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I want to encourage you to do that also,
on Wednesday, instead of the Wednesday

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night Bible study, we're actually meeting
kind of corporately here,

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to pray for that trip for his,

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continuing growing of the kingdom,

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with all the pastors
that we've taken from Excel.

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But also the pastors that are there.

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So I could continue to talk,
but we've got some videos that have come

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in, we've got some pictures
that have come in.

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And so he's going to give a recap
of all that when he gets back.

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But just know, you guys,
if you're here this morning,

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you're part of what's going on there.

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And it is some really significant
boots on the ground.

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Just brass tacks,
good old fashioned first century ministry.

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It's fantastic what's going on there.

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So good on you for being a part of that.

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Continue to pray for him. Amen.

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Awesome.

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Hey, in the meantime,
I get to share a message with you guys.

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I'm really excited about what
we're going to talk about today.

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I'm hoping you'll be encouraged by it.

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There may be some.

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There may be some lows,

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but I'm going to I'm
going to try to end on a high note. And,

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get us on some mountaintops
and in, certain places in between.

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But as I was preparing
for our time together today, my mind

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kept going back to the summer of 1983.

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Back in the 1900s, a lifetime ago, right.

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And the reason my mind kept going back to
that summer is because

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during that summer,
I was 12 years old during that summer.

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And it's amazing, as I remembered,

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the details, it was amazing
that I could actually remember details

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because that was
that was a while ago for me.

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But when
you hear the story, you'll know why.

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I could remember it so vividly.

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During that summer, there were two things
that characterized my life.

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Well, I was getting ready to go

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into two of the most tumultuous years
of anybody's life.

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Those those two years of junior high,
seventh and eighth grade,

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getting ready to go headlong into that
didn't know what was, didn't know

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what was in store for me.

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I was kind of living in ignorant bliss
at that time.

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And two of the things that characterized
my life where, number one music,

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I was playing drums, I was playing guitar.

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But the other thing was my bike.

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I had one of those.

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We were really into those BMX bikes.

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So 16 inch, 20 inch BMX bikes
built for the track, built for speed.

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And it was not just a toy for us guys
at that.

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At that time in our lives.
It was a passion.

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It wasn't.

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It wasn't just a hobby.

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It was like we were living it.

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And for most of us,

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the bike
wasn't purchased as a single unit.

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It was a series of calculated,
intentional purchases like we would always

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share all, share stories
as we built our bikes up.

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Hey, this year
or this week, I'm going to get my wheels.

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Hey, this year
I'm going to get my frame right.

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Hey, this week I'm going to get my
my gooseneck or my my seat.

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And it was a calculated effort
to build this bike up.

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Some of you guys are this way
with your Harley.

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Some of you guys are this way
with your cars.

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Back then as a 12 year old,
it was my bike.

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It was my prized possession.

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It was my pride and joy.

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And it was the same way for all of us
guys who were friends at that.

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At that point,
especially during that summer.

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And we were sitting around

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the front yard of one of my friend's house
one summer afternoon,

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and we were for some reason, talking
about how much we loved 4th of July,

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and we were lamenting
the fact that we couldn't have fireworks

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even on the 4th of July.

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I grew up in Fresno,
just north of just south of Fashion Fair.

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And back then,

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they had outlawed fireworks even
on the 4th of July in the city limits.

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They had those a lot of houses,
had those old wooden shake roofs and,

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you know, one bottle rocket
and the whole thing goes up in flames.

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So they just outlawed the whole thing.

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Even on the 4th of July,
you had to, be on a county island or,

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in the county to buy fireworks.

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And even then,
you can only have them on the 4th of July.

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And so we were sitting around
talking about the good old days

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when we were able to have fireworks
and how cool it would be.

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And I don't know why,
but I said, yeah, the

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the closest thing we have access to
now is the smoke bombs down at Wizards.

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And they all my friends looked at me
and I said, what?

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I said, yeah, we can we can buy
smoke bombs at Wizards Magic Shop.

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It was it was a little magic shop
down on the corner of First and Shaw

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and they sold smoke bombs.

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And I said, yeah,
they got a fuze like a firework.

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And, you know, the light them,

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you throw them on the ground
and they pollute the air.

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But what a great thing.

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And like, no way. I said, yeah,

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so we got to get some.

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So the idea was we're going to buy
a bunch of smoke bombs.

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We're going to
right around the neighborhood,

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because if you stay in your own front
yard, you can get busted, right?

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People know where you are.

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So you're right around the neighborhood,
and you throw the smoke bombs

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and you watch the colorful smoke,
and then you continue to do it.

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So that was the plan.

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What could possibly go wrong? Right.

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And so for some reason,

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a couple of the friends of mine
were brothers and they had to go check in.

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You guys remember checking in?

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If you were out in the afternoon,

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you had to be home before
or before the street lights came on.

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But if you were like,
if you left in the morning,

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your parents were like more of the strict
parents were like, you got to come beat.

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Check in at one or check in at three.

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It was basically before cell phones.

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Your parents way of going,
I need to make sure you're still breathing

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and you're not arrested
and you're not bleeding.

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So come and check in.

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And so a few of the guys had to go
check in.

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I was like, okay, I'll take the money,
I'll go down, I'll buy the smoke bombs.

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We'll meet back here
in about a half an hour.

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So I go down to Wizard's Magic Shop
and I turn in off the sidewalk

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that's on the street. And I kind of.

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It was in a sort of a strip mall.

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And so there's this long, sort of,

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sidewalk with the poles that you know,
but it up against the parking spots.

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And then there was the shops,
the front door to the shops.

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And as I ride up to the

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front door of the shop, I looked down
and I realized, I don't have my lock.

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I had one of those coil locks,
you know, you wrap around the seat

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post or wrap around the frame

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and I ride up and I was like, shoot,
I don't have my lock.

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And I look in the store,
I'm like, it's right there.

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Look at where I'm at the post
where my bike's going to be.

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I'm like, okay, I'm just going to lean
my bike up against the post.

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I'm going to walk in the store.

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I'm going to keep one eye
on this little transaction

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that I'm about to do,
and I'm gonna keep one eye on my bike.

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So I walk in and, you know,

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I dump a bunch of money on the counter
and I'm like, I got all this money.

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I want as many smoke bombs
as this money will buy.

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He's like, okay. And I'm, you know,
keeping my eye on my bike the whole time.

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And so he

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starts ringing me up
and he goes, this register's busted.

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Can you come around to this other one?

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And I thought,
oh, I gotta take my eye off my bike.

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I'm like, okay, we really
we really need these smoke bombs.

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So I walk around to the other side
of the, of the counter

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where the, the cash register is,
and I'm out of sight of my bike.

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And this guy's taken forever.
It's like you need to sit.

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No, I don't need a receipt.

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He starts to put them in a bag like
I don't need a bag, just give me them.

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And as I come back around,
I see the second half of my back

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tire rolling out of sight at sheer panic.

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That wave of terror that comes over you.

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I run out of the door.

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And this. This bike was built for speed.

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This guy is moving.

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He's twice as big as me,
and he's moving on my bike.

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And so I start to run, and then I start to
scream, hey, that guy stole my bike.

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Like I stole my bike.

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And by then he's down to the end
and he's around the corner.

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Everybody's like, we're

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he's right there.

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Get him.

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So hop in, we'll go get him.

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I'm like, okay, now
I'm hopping in the car with a stranger.

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I've got a whole separate set of problems
to deal with.

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So I'm crying by now.

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I'm crying as I, you know, you sort of run
and you're like, oh, what's the use?

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And then you're like, well, let's try it.
You run, stop, run, stop.

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And by the time I get down to the end,
he's gone.

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I realize my bike is gone.

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And so I walk home
and I get to my friend's house.

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They're like, where are you?

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You know, I'm half an hour late.
Where have you been?

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Where's your bike?

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And they start to see that I'm crying.

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And I just kind of dump
the smoke bombs on the grass.

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And I continue to walk home.

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My mom will tell you to this day,
I was clinically depressed

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for weeks after that, for weeks
after getting that bike stolen.

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That was sort of my introduction
into adolescence.

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School started about three weeks later,
and that was just sort of my sobering

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introduction into, hey, here's
part of what it means

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to make autonomous decisions on your own.

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As I thought about that story,
I was listening to, to a guy talk

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a few months ago, and he put words to
something I've thought about for a while.

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He said something to the effect of
with every,

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decision that has resulted

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in a time in my life
it's kind of gotten wonky,

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this kind of gotten,
you know, twisted sideways.

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I've been there.

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00:10:38,938 --> 00:10:39,705
I've been president.

232
00:10:39,705 --> 00:10:41,440
He was talking about it's up
for every decision

233
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:45,077
it's made, which resulted in a decision
that maybe ended up in a regret.

234
00:10:45,077 --> 00:10:47,313
I've been there,
and not only have I been there,

235
00:10:47,313 --> 00:10:50,650
I've been an active participant
in that decision making process.

236
00:10:50,916 --> 00:10:55,988
And I've also, on most of those decisions,
been the ringleader.

237
00:10:55,988 --> 00:10:57,456
It was my brainchild.

238
00:10:57,456 --> 00:11:01,794
I was the guy that came up with it,
and I thought, that is so true.

239
00:11:02,862 --> 00:11:05,865
With these decisions in our life
that end up

240
00:11:07,466 --> 00:11:09,735
with maybe a regret,

241
00:11:09,735 --> 00:11:12,805
or maybe things just didn't
turn out the way we wanted to.

242
00:11:12,838 --> 00:11:14,573
You know, when you're young, it's
kind of like you're

243
00:11:14,573 --> 00:11:15,975
you're at the whim of your parents.

244
00:11:15,975 --> 00:11:17,943
But as you grow up
and you get some autonomy

245
00:11:17,943 --> 00:11:21,981
and start making decisions on your own,
you realize, man, it got messed up

246
00:11:22,248 --> 00:11:25,251
and I'm the guy to blame.

247
00:11:26,218 --> 00:11:28,320
I think as I was telling that story,
everybody in here

248
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,191
probably has a similar story
where you thought, okay, it's

249
00:11:32,191 --> 00:11:35,194
fine, it'll be fine,
and then it ends up not being fine.

250
00:11:37,296 --> 00:11:39,632
I think it's part of the human condition

251
00:11:39,632 --> 00:11:42,601
that we're in.

252
00:11:43,869 --> 00:11:44,403
Where we

253
00:11:44,403 --> 00:11:47,473
we make these decisions
and things get twisted sideways

254
00:11:47,473 --> 00:11:50,810
and we think, oh,
what in the world happened?

255
00:11:53,512 --> 00:11:55,815
Or maybe you've been on the phone
with a family member,

256
00:11:55,815 --> 00:11:57,516
you've been in a conversation
with a family member,

257
00:11:57,516 --> 00:11:59,618
and they're saying something
that they plan on doing.

258
00:11:59,618 --> 00:12:03,189
And you're like, oh my gosh, there's
nothing good that can come from this

259
00:12:03,189 --> 00:12:06,192
if you have teenage
kids, this happens weekly in your house.

260
00:12:06,625 --> 00:12:10,162
You know, they come up with these ideas
and you're like, let's, let's,

261
00:12:10,463 --> 00:12:13,466
let's try again.

262
00:12:15,201 --> 00:12:17,937
What we're going to talk about today,
I'm hoping, has the potential

263
00:12:17,937 --> 00:12:22,141
to shed some new light on those situations
that has has a potential to maybe,

264
00:12:23,242 --> 00:12:26,679
break some cycles that maybe
have plagued a lot of us for years

265
00:12:28,147 --> 00:12:29,949
because lucky for us,

266
00:12:29,949 --> 00:12:34,620
God has an answer to those types
of those types of situations,

267
00:12:34,887 --> 00:12:38,491
those times in our life
when we're making decisions.

268
00:12:41,927 --> 00:12:44,263
And we want to make the right decision.

269
00:12:44,263 --> 00:12:47,466
That doesn't end up in a regret,
but we don't know the future.

270
00:12:48,667 --> 00:12:51,070
And so a lot of times
we just take our best shot at it.

271
00:12:51,070 --> 00:12:53,506
And God says, I have some suggestions.

272
00:12:53,506 --> 00:12:56,675
I have some some, some, some thoughts.

273
00:12:56,675 --> 00:13:00,279
I have some ways of doing things
that may help you with that.

274
00:13:01,714 --> 00:13:03,682
Not only does he have advice for us,

275
00:13:03,682 --> 00:13:08,220
but he has a way and a solution for that
to kind of play out in our lives.

276
00:13:08,220 --> 00:13:10,523
And so that's kind of what
I want to talk about here today.

277
00:13:10,523 --> 00:13:13,893
God says there's a somewhat
simple explanation for that.

278
00:13:13,893 --> 00:13:18,631
Simple to understand, but at many times
difficult to put into practice.

279
00:13:18,931 --> 00:13:23,869
The the understanding a lot of times
is is easy to nod your head at,

280
00:13:23,869 --> 00:13:26,872
but when it comes time for implementation,
it can be kind of difficult,

281
00:13:28,207 --> 00:13:28,674
he says.

282
00:13:28,674 --> 00:13:33,612
Those those times
all have really sort of the same source.

283
00:13:33,612 --> 00:13:38,884
There's this relational, emotional,
maybe even a spiritual ground zero

284
00:13:38,884 --> 00:13:41,887
where all that stuff starts.

285
00:13:42,922 --> 00:13:44,557
So if you brought your Bible with you
today,

286
00:13:44,557 --> 00:13:47,560
we're going to be in the Old Testament
book of Proverbs.

287
00:13:50,696 --> 00:13:51,263
Proverbs

288
00:13:51,263 --> 00:13:55,634
was almost entirely written
by a guy named Solomon.

289
00:13:55,634 --> 00:13:57,203
He was king of Israel.

290
00:13:57,203 --> 00:13:58,437
King Solomon.

291
00:13:58,437 --> 00:14:02,274
And a lot of times, if you read the Bible,
Solomon is attributed

292
00:14:02,274 --> 00:14:06,812
for having the most wisdom of any person
that's ever roamed the face of the earth.

293
00:14:06,979 --> 00:14:09,715
Because of that wisdom,
the nation prospered.

294
00:14:09,715 --> 00:14:13,352
The people close to him
were the beneficiaries of a lot of a lot

295
00:14:13,352 --> 00:14:14,320
of good decisions.

296
00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,323
And so he writes these down,

297
00:14:17,623 --> 00:14:19,592
and they've lasted quite a while.

298
00:14:20,726 --> 00:14:23,729
We're
going to be in Proverbs chapter four,

299
00:14:23,796 --> 00:14:26,799
verse 23.

300
00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:29,301
In verse 23

301
00:14:29,301 --> 00:14:32,838
he says this above all else,
guard your heart

302
00:14:33,405 --> 00:14:36,408
for everything you do flows from it.

303
00:14:38,010 --> 00:14:39,278
Guard your heart.

304
00:14:39,278 --> 00:14:40,746
Everything you do flows from it.

305
00:14:40,746 --> 00:14:43,749
Some translation say
it is the wellspring of life.

306
00:14:43,849 --> 00:14:45,084
I really didn't appreciate that

307
00:14:45,084 --> 00:14:49,321
until I moved out the ranchos, and
I got on my own well, and had to consider

308
00:14:49,321 --> 00:14:52,691
all the implications
that come along with maintaining your own.

309
00:14:52,691 --> 00:14:57,830
Well, we had our well go bad back in 2016,
and the way I found out about

310
00:14:57,830 --> 00:15:01,033
that was not from anything like a shower
or a sink inside.

311
00:15:01,233 --> 00:15:04,336
I was outside
and the sprinklers were running one night,

312
00:15:04,403 --> 00:15:05,971
and all of a sudden they just be.

313
00:15:05,971 --> 00:15:09,608
And all the, drip lines just started
to kind of pulsate, and I'm like,

314
00:15:09,608 --> 00:15:11,477
what is going on? No water coming out?

315
00:15:11,477 --> 00:15:13,012
Like what is going on here?

316
00:15:13,012 --> 00:15:16,382
And I realized, oh,
the well, the well's going out.

317
00:15:16,815 --> 00:15:18,550
And so I realized, wow,

318
00:15:18,550 --> 00:15:22,788
every drop of water, not just inside
but outside, it's coming from that one.

319
00:15:22,788 --> 00:15:26,525
Well, and Solomon says,
when it comes to the thoughts

320
00:15:26,525 --> 00:15:29,762
and the emotions
and the spiritual decisions and the really

321
00:15:30,930 --> 00:15:33,532
kind of bare bones, brass tacks
decisions that we make,

322
00:15:33,532 --> 00:15:37,970
there is a wellspring of that
one single, solitary origin.

323
00:15:37,970 --> 00:15:39,571
And he says, it's your heart,

324
00:15:39,571 --> 00:15:43,842
not the muscle in your chest
with chambers and ventricles and aorta.

325
00:15:44,009 --> 00:15:46,779
But this idea

326
00:15:46,779 --> 00:15:50,082
of this one central place

327
00:15:50,082 --> 00:15:53,085
where all of our beliefs and our thoughts

328
00:15:54,253 --> 00:15:57,423
really just kind of where the rubber
meets the road and those beliefs

329
00:15:57,423 --> 00:16:01,193
and those thoughts turn into actions,
they become the dues of our life.

330
00:16:01,193 --> 00:16:01,894
Solomon says.

331
00:16:01,894 --> 00:16:04,163
That's that's this thing called the heart.

332
00:16:04,163 --> 00:16:07,166
The Bible talks a lot about it.

333
00:16:07,166 --> 00:16:10,536
God wants us to know that there's
a single place where that all starts.

334
00:16:12,004 --> 00:16:14,073
Our lives are a series of decisions, big

335
00:16:14,073 --> 00:16:17,343
and small, and the heart
is the source of all of them.

336
00:16:19,278 --> 00:16:22,281
Have you ever heard the phrase
follow your heart, just follow your heart.

337
00:16:22,281 --> 00:16:24,717
There's a whole life hack has a heart

338
00:16:24,717 --> 00:16:27,720
that's horrible that actually comes
from a Shakespeare play.

339
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,622
I think it's hamlet
and the wording is different.

340
00:16:30,622 --> 00:16:33,392
It's old English wording, but what
it really amounts to is follow your heart.

341
00:16:33,392 --> 00:16:35,761
And there's one of the main characters
is Karen

342
00:16:35,761 --> 00:16:37,830
telling the other character,
just follow your heart.

343
00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:39,164
It does not turn out well.

344
00:16:39,164 --> 00:16:41,767
So same thing for us. Following our heart.

345
00:16:41,767 --> 00:16:45,504
Just listening to an unguarded
heart is really, really bad.

346
00:16:45,504 --> 00:16:48,507
Life advice.

347
00:16:50,175 --> 00:16:52,578
It's so interesting when life gets messy.

348
00:16:52,578 --> 00:16:56,215
When things end up messy,
we get really good.

349
00:16:56,281 --> 00:16:58,984
As humans, we get really good
at dealing with the mess.

350
00:16:58,984 --> 00:17:01,487
Some of us are professional mess
cleaner uppers.

351
00:17:01,487 --> 00:17:05,791
We we live crisis to crisis,
and we get really good about identifying

352
00:17:05,791 --> 00:17:09,395
the mess and stepping into the mess
and cleaning up the mess.

353
00:17:09,395 --> 00:17:12,464
And when we're in the mess,
we bellyache and gripe about the mess

354
00:17:12,464 --> 00:17:15,467
and we can find out who
we should blame about the mess.

355
00:17:15,601 --> 00:17:17,669
And we get really good
at addressing the mess.

356
00:17:17,669 --> 00:17:21,707
But we don't ever address
the source of what happened.

357
00:17:21,807 --> 00:17:23,876
The source of
where did where did it come from?

358
00:17:25,077 --> 00:17:27,513
I heard a guy talk about,

359
00:17:27,513 --> 00:17:30,282
it's kind of analogous to
to pruning a tree.

360
00:17:30,282 --> 00:17:32,985
A lot of people will go, you know,
you need to prune, you know,

361
00:17:32,985 --> 00:17:36,522
get stopped, stop smoking, stop drinking,
prune that branch, prune that branch.

362
00:17:36,522 --> 00:17:37,923
Stop this, start that.

363
00:17:37,923 --> 00:17:39,224
Well, it's not the branches.

364
00:17:39,224 --> 00:17:40,893
It's not the pruning that needs to happen.

365
00:17:40,893 --> 00:17:43,062
It's the root that needs to be addressed.

366
00:17:43,062 --> 00:17:44,463
And that's what God is saying.

367
00:17:44,463 --> 00:17:47,466
He's like,
let's talk about where all this stuff

368
00:17:47,466 --> 00:17:50,469
starts.

369
00:17:53,672 --> 00:17:56,642
There's some things,

370
00:17:56,675 --> 00:17:59,044
you know,
when we talk about the question why?

371
00:17:59,044 --> 00:18:01,980
Why guard our heart?

372
00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:05,217
There's there's some things
the Bible talks about where it says, put,

373
00:18:05,250 --> 00:18:08,287
put these things to death
or put these things behind you

374
00:18:08,287 --> 00:18:11,490
or, you know, move forward
and don't look back.

375
00:18:11,490 --> 00:18:12,825
Dismiss these things.

376
00:18:12,825 --> 00:18:15,294
Don't don't get distracted
by these things.

377
00:18:15,294 --> 00:18:18,797
But when it comes to the heart,
God's Word says, guard it.

378
00:18:20,866 --> 00:18:23,102
Guard it.

379
00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:24,736
Don't dismiss it.

380
00:18:24,736 --> 00:18:27,406
Don't put it to death. Don't disregard it.

381
00:18:27,406 --> 00:18:28,407
Protect it.

382
00:18:28,407 --> 00:18:32,611
Pay attention to what you let in
and pay attention to what you keep out.

383
00:18:32,611 --> 00:18:35,581
Consider these things
and don't dismiss them.

384
00:18:36,882 --> 00:18:39,885
So why God, our heart?

385
00:18:40,719 --> 00:18:43,622
If you take nothing else away from today,
this is the one thing.

386
00:18:43,622 --> 00:18:45,724
If you hit the if you got a kid
in the children's program,

387
00:18:45,724 --> 00:18:47,025
you see that little blurb come up.

388
00:18:47,025 --> 00:18:47,793
You gotta leave.

389
00:18:47,793 --> 00:18:51,697
If you hear nothing else today, remember
this what starts out in your heart

390
00:18:51,897 --> 00:18:52,831
ends up in your life.

391
00:18:52,831 --> 00:18:55,834
And so why should we guard it?

392
00:18:55,834 --> 00:18:58,303
The first, reason we should guard
our heart is this.

393
00:18:58,303 --> 00:19:00,339
It's very valuable.

394
00:19:00,339 --> 00:19:02,508
The heart is a valuable thing.

395
00:19:02,508 --> 00:19:05,577
This idea of there being a central place
where everything starts

396
00:19:05,844 --> 00:19:09,181
and as a as a belief or an idea
and ends up in our lives.

397
00:19:09,348 --> 00:19:12,217
That makes the
heart a very valuable entity.

398
00:19:13,819 --> 00:19:15,621
I was talking to my daughter.

399
00:19:15,621 --> 00:19:16,588
I have three daughters.

400
00:19:16,588 --> 00:19:18,657
I was talking to my youngest a while back.

401
00:19:18,657 --> 00:19:21,793
One of her chores right now,
as a matter of fact, all three daughters,

402
00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:23,529
two of them are have moved out.

403
00:19:23,529 --> 00:19:26,498
But at some point in their time
living under her roof,

404
00:19:26,498 --> 00:19:28,834
one of their chores
has been to take out the garbage.

405
00:19:28,834 --> 00:19:30,035
For many of you, it's
going to happen tonight.

406
00:19:30,035 --> 00:19:32,838
The garbage comes tomorrow, right?

407
00:19:32,838 --> 00:19:33,872
They hated it.

408
00:19:33,872 --> 00:19:36,575
Still, the the one daughter
who still lives under my roof.

409
00:19:36,575 --> 00:19:39,411
She still hates it. Still hate.
Because it's a big production.

410
00:19:39,411 --> 00:19:41,580
You got to empty
all the wastepaper basket.

411
00:19:41,580 --> 00:19:45,150
You got to empty those into the bigger
trash can that's out on the patio.

412
00:19:45,150 --> 00:19:48,387
And then there's another one
that's similar size out by the shop.

413
00:19:48,420 --> 00:19:50,189
You put those together,
and then you eventually

414
00:19:50,189 --> 00:19:53,192
put all that garbage into the big garbage
can that's on wheels.

415
00:19:53,258 --> 00:19:56,728
And then it's for them
anyway, we have a very long driveway.

416
00:19:56,728 --> 00:19:59,364
It's kind of like the Trail of Tears
as they walk

417
00:19:59,364 --> 00:20:02,367
this garbage can down
to the end of the road.

418
00:20:02,935 --> 00:20:04,670
So that's going to be Sidney's
job tonight.

419
00:20:04,670 --> 00:20:05,604
Pray for her. She'll

420
00:20:06,638 --> 00:20:09,641
I think she'll I think she will survive.

421
00:20:10,275 --> 00:20:14,146
But when they get that garbage can down
to the end of the driveway and they put it

422
00:20:14,146 --> 00:20:16,548
at the end of the road, you know,
I've told them, don't put it too far out.

423
00:20:16,548 --> 00:20:17,950
It can get hit, or don't put it too far

424
00:20:17,950 --> 00:20:19,518
back to the truck,
won't be able to get to it.

425
00:20:19,518 --> 00:20:22,688
But once they place that God,
can they walk away from that thing

426
00:20:22,688 --> 00:20:25,691
and they do not care about it.

427
00:20:25,924 --> 00:20:28,427
And you know
who else doesn't care about it?

428
00:20:28,427 --> 00:20:30,262
I don't care about it.

429
00:20:30,262 --> 00:20:34,132
I don't put that garbage can down at the
end of the driveway and go, you know what?

430
00:20:34,132 --> 00:20:36,902
We got to guard that sucker
until the truck comes to morrow morning.

431
00:20:36,902 --> 00:20:38,003
Very concerned.

432
00:20:38,003 --> 00:20:39,338
Did you actually look this up?

433
00:20:39,338 --> 00:20:41,106
Do you guys know
if your trash can get stolen?

434
00:20:41,106 --> 00:20:42,541
It's not on you.

435
00:20:42,541 --> 00:20:43,308
You call the county.

436
00:20:43,308 --> 00:20:45,677
You got my trash can and got something
a lot of them have,

437
00:20:45,677 --> 00:20:48,680
either a barcode or a QR code
or some weird code on the side

438
00:20:48,714 --> 00:20:51,083
so that the county can actually trace
these garbage cans

439
00:20:51,083 --> 00:20:54,019
and hunt down their stolen garbage cans
if they need to.

440
00:20:54,019 --> 00:20:55,020
I don't care about it.

441
00:20:55,020 --> 00:20:56,955
I don't place a guard on my trash can.

442
00:20:56,955 --> 00:20:57,623
As a matter of fact,

443
00:20:57,623 --> 00:21:01,760
if somebody comes by in the dead of night
and steals all my garbage, I'll be like,

444
00:21:02,661 --> 00:21:05,564
okay, it must have been something
you needed in there.

445
00:21:05,564 --> 00:21:07,232
I don't really care about it.

446
00:21:07,232 --> 00:21:09,101
I don't place a guard over my trash can.

447
00:21:11,403 --> 00:21:11,970
But when it comes

448
00:21:11,970 --> 00:21:15,774
to our heart, it's unbelievably valuable.

449
00:21:15,774 --> 00:21:18,710
And so God says, guard it.

450
00:21:18,710 --> 00:21:22,648
And since God considers our heart very,
very valuable,

451
00:21:22,648 --> 00:21:26,618
the enemy comes at it with all guns
blazing, big red targets on it.

452
00:21:26,618 --> 00:21:29,621
And it's one thing that the enemy attacks.

453
00:21:29,888 --> 00:21:32,291
The Gospel of Luke records a conversation

454
00:21:32,291 --> 00:21:35,294
Jesus was having with a group of people,

455
00:21:35,761 --> 00:21:38,363
and he said this A good man

456
00:21:38,363 --> 00:21:42,934
brings good things out of the good
stored up in his heart, and an evil man

457
00:21:42,934 --> 00:21:46,638
brings evil things out of the evil
stored up in his heart.

458
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,477
So the heart is very valuable
in that a guarded heart has the potential

459
00:21:52,644 --> 00:21:54,946
to bring forth things that glorify God

460
00:21:54,946 --> 00:21:57,949
further the kingdom
and just really good stuff.

461
00:21:58,884 --> 00:22:01,453
The inverse of that is an unguarded heart

462
00:22:01,453 --> 00:22:04,289
has the potential to be the source
of some of the most destructive,

463
00:22:05,257 --> 00:22:07,225
the most destructive and evil things
we've ever seen.

464
00:22:07,225 --> 00:22:09,795
The last few weeks have shown us
that the last few weeks

465
00:22:09,795 --> 00:22:12,998
have been sort of exhibit
A in what an unguarded heart

466
00:22:14,333 --> 00:22:16,034
can bring into the world.

467
00:22:16,034 --> 00:22:18,770
So because of what's at stake,
God says is extra

468
00:22:18,770 --> 00:22:21,773
heart is extremely valuable.

469
00:22:22,607 --> 00:22:25,110
There's another, excerpt
from the Gospel of Matthew

470
00:22:25,110 --> 00:22:28,780
that's actually taken from a conversation
that Jesus is having with a lawyer.

471
00:22:29,815 --> 00:22:34,019
If you've read the Gospels, you know,
Jesus was always being confronted by the,

472
00:22:34,052 --> 00:22:38,890
the, the keepers of the law and the what's
called the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

473
00:22:38,890 --> 00:22:40,625
They were always trying
to get him into these debates

474
00:22:40,625 --> 00:22:43,628
and these arguments to trap him in his
in what he would say.

475
00:22:43,662 --> 00:22:46,898
And so he's talking to a lawyer
who's asked him the question,

476
00:22:47,399 --> 00:22:50,102
Jesus,
what's the most important commandment?

477
00:22:50,102 --> 00:22:52,838
Kind of like, you know what,
let's just cut to the chase here.

478
00:22:52,838 --> 00:22:54,806
What's the most important commandment?

479
00:22:54,806 --> 00:22:55,874
And Jesus says this

480
00:22:57,109 --> 00:22:59,344
love the
Lord your God with all your heart,

481
00:22:59,344 --> 00:23:02,347
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.

482
00:23:04,149 --> 00:23:07,652
The apostle or the the Gospel of Luke
actually record something

483
00:23:07,652 --> 00:23:11,623
and remember something Matthew didn't hit
actually adds the word strength.

484
00:23:11,623 --> 00:23:14,626
All your heart, all your soul,
all your mind, and all your strength.

485
00:23:15,026 --> 00:23:18,029
Regardless of which of these
we talk about,

486
00:23:18,196 --> 00:23:22,534
Jesus was actually referring back
to the old Testament book of Deuteronomy,

487
00:23:22,534 --> 00:23:25,537
where a lot of that law
was being fleshed out.

488
00:23:26,671 --> 00:23:30,075
And back there it says your heart,
your soul and all your might.

489
00:23:30,876 --> 00:23:33,945
So regardless of which laundry list
we're talking about,

490
00:23:33,945 --> 00:23:36,948
the heart has the

491
00:23:37,082 --> 00:23:39,618
first place
the gold gold star option right there.

492
00:23:39,618 --> 00:23:41,553
The heart shows up first.

493
00:23:41,553 --> 00:23:44,556
It's very, very valuable.

494
00:23:46,191 --> 00:23:49,194
And therefore God says, guard
it, guard it.

495
00:23:49,594 --> 00:23:51,730
You need to pay attention to it.

496
00:23:51,730 --> 00:23:53,265
What you let in and what you let out.

497
00:23:55,167 --> 00:23:56,835
The other
thing why we should guard our heart.

498
00:23:56,835 --> 00:23:59,838
And this is this is kind of a fun one.

499
00:24:01,173 --> 00:24:03,108
Is because of this.

500
00:24:03,108 --> 00:24:04,943
It lies.

501
00:24:04,943 --> 00:24:07,946
Your heart lies.

502
00:24:08,547 --> 00:24:11,283
It's a bummer.

503
00:24:11,283 --> 00:24:12,651
Jeremiah the prophet, he's.

504
00:24:12,651 --> 00:24:14,653
He's known as the weeping prophet.

505
00:24:14,653 --> 00:24:17,055
He was like,
kind of the ear of the prophets.

506
00:24:17,055 --> 00:24:18,390
He said this about the heart.

507
00:24:18,390 --> 00:24:22,527
The heart is deceitful
above all things and beyond cure.

508
00:24:22,561 --> 00:24:24,563
Who can understand it?

509
00:24:24,563 --> 00:24:26,731
Thanks, Jeremiah, for that pep talk.

510
00:24:26,731 --> 00:24:28,366
But he's he's right.

511
00:24:28,366 --> 00:24:30,769
He's right.

512
00:24:30,769 --> 00:24:32,137
One of the byproducts

513
00:24:32,137 --> 00:24:35,607
of an unguarded heart
is that it will lie to us.

514
00:24:35,941 --> 00:24:39,478
It'll come up with things
or be drawn towards things that are just

515
00:24:39,478 --> 00:24:42,481
downright false.

516
00:24:44,282 --> 00:24:46,885
Raise your hand
if you are an oldest child.

517
00:24:46,885 --> 00:24:49,187
If you're an oldest child,
raise your hand.

518
00:24:49,187 --> 00:24:52,090
Yeah, I'm gonna keep my hand raised
because I'm an oldest child.

519
00:24:52,090 --> 00:24:54,392
We got a raw deal, you guys.

520
00:24:54,392 --> 00:24:55,894
We got a bum rap.

521
00:24:55,894 --> 00:24:58,897
I apologize,
I like I said, I have three daughters.

522
00:24:59,297 --> 00:25:02,434
My oldest is going to be 24

523
00:25:02,434 --> 00:25:06,404
at the end of this month,
and I'm apologizing to her all the time.

524
00:25:06,404 --> 00:25:08,106
I'm like, Eva, I am so sorry.

525
00:25:08,106 --> 00:25:10,575
Your mom and
I did not know what we were doing.

526
00:25:10,575 --> 00:25:15,013
We were like building the plane as we flew
it with you duct taped to the roof.

527
00:25:15,714 --> 00:25:17,782
You just you were along for the ride.

528
00:25:17,782 --> 00:25:19,451
We didn't know what we were doing.

529
00:25:20,685 --> 00:25:23,221
And, one of the stories,

530
00:25:23,221 --> 00:25:26,224
I was actually talking to her about this
a little while ago.

531
00:25:27,092 --> 00:25:30,095
We went, you know,
those toddler birthday parties.

532
00:25:30,362 --> 00:25:32,697
So the heart is kind of the heart.

533
00:25:32,697 --> 00:25:34,499
Because a lot of us have been really,

534
00:25:34,499 --> 00:25:37,502
seriously hurt
by somebody who lied to us on our life.

535
00:25:38,236 --> 00:25:40,906
And so when we think about lying,
we think, oh, low down

536
00:25:40,906 --> 00:25:43,909
and dirty, insidious, you know, lies.

537
00:25:45,343 --> 00:25:48,713
My experience has been,
that's not how the heart lies.

538
00:25:49,414 --> 00:25:52,150
The heart kind of lies. Like a toddler.

539
00:25:52,150 --> 00:25:55,787
You know where looking right
in the face and go, oh yeah, I did this.

540
00:25:55,787 --> 00:25:57,055
And you're like, no, you didn't.

541
00:25:57,055 --> 00:25:57,989
You're lying.

542
00:25:57,989 --> 00:25:59,224
You're lying to me.

543
00:25:59,224 --> 00:26:01,860
That's
sort of the lies that the heart tells.

544
00:26:01,860 --> 00:26:04,863
And so back when Eva was a
toddler, were at this party,

545
00:26:06,131 --> 00:26:10,936
and, I used to hate those parties,
you guys, because you just sit around.

546
00:26:10,936 --> 00:26:13,939
Really? The adults
just kind of sit around.

547
00:26:13,972 --> 00:26:16,741
But this party was actually really cool.

548
00:26:16,741 --> 00:26:19,611
The people who were having the party
for their kid, I don't know, he was.

549
00:26:19,611 --> 00:26:22,614
He was turned four, maybe three.

550
00:26:23,281 --> 00:26:26,384
They had a structured
a treasure hunt for all the kids to go on.

551
00:26:26,384 --> 00:26:31,323
And so you break up into these teams,
and you had two, adults with each team of.

552
00:26:31,323 --> 00:26:33,558
I want to say about 5 or 6 kids.

553
00:26:33,558 --> 00:26:34,559
And you had,

554
00:26:34,559 --> 00:26:38,096
they had printed out a treasure
map and instructions on the treasure map.

555
00:26:38,997 --> 00:26:40,999
I thought, this is kind of cool.
We get up, we're doing stuff.

556
00:26:40,999 --> 00:26:42,167
It was outside. It was inside.

557
00:26:42,167 --> 00:26:43,969
All these locations
were all over the place.

558
00:26:43,969 --> 00:26:46,037
And so,
I was paired up with another parent.

559
00:26:46,037 --> 00:26:47,806
I think Jen was on another team.

560
00:26:47,806 --> 00:26:51,910
And the parent I was paired up with,
she got this idea of,

561
00:26:51,910 --> 00:26:54,913
she asked a group of kids, hey,
does anybody here know how to read?

562
00:26:55,780 --> 00:26:56,948
And one is a little girls.

563
00:26:56,948 --> 00:26:58,850
You know, a lot of the kids
are just looking at their shoes

564
00:26:58,850 --> 00:27:00,018
or picking their nose or whatever.

565
00:27:00,018 --> 00:27:01,953
But one of the little girls goes,
I don't know how to read.

566
00:27:01,953 --> 00:27:03,455
I don't know how to read. It's great.

567
00:27:03,455 --> 00:27:06,458
So she hands of the list
and the girl starts

568
00:27:06,691 --> 00:27:09,294
reading in the city.

569
00:27:09,294 --> 00:27:12,597
And I thought, you know, she's talking
about her dog and her favorite color.

570
00:27:12,597 --> 00:27:14,833
I'm like, that's not what's on that list.

571
00:27:14,833 --> 00:27:17,836
And the parent and I kind of
looked at each other like, oh my gosh.

572
00:27:17,902 --> 00:27:20,572
And so, you know, trying to be like,
thank you so much.

573
00:27:20,572 --> 00:27:22,540
All right.
Let's see what else it has to say.

574
00:27:23,508 --> 00:27:25,877
That's the way the heart lies to us.

575
00:27:25,877 --> 00:27:28,847
The heart lies to us by going,
hey, this would be a great idea.

576
00:27:28,847 --> 00:27:30,148
I know exactly what we should do.

577
00:27:30,148 --> 00:27:31,816
And we're like,
okay, heart, you're in charge.

578
00:27:31,816 --> 00:27:33,385
And then all of a sudden the heart's like,

579
00:27:33,385 --> 00:27:36,388
yeah,
I really didn't know what I was doing.

580
00:27:37,288 --> 00:27:40,291
The heart lies.

581
00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:45,363
So how do we go about guarding our heart?

582
00:27:45,397 --> 00:27:46,598
How do we go about doing this?

583
00:27:46,598 --> 00:27:48,867
Great advice. God. Thanks, Kate.

584
00:27:48,867 --> 00:27:49,801
Can you give me some?

585
00:27:49,801 --> 00:27:55,340
Can you give me some more, a little bit
more, examples, maybe some situations

586
00:27:55,340 --> 00:27:58,343
where I can actually take this
and put it into practice.

587
00:27:58,410 --> 00:28:02,514
One of the things that as we talk about,
how do we guard our heart,

588
00:28:02,514 --> 00:28:05,016
one of the things
we need to acknowledge even before that

589
00:28:06,351 --> 00:28:09,354
is we need sort of a heart replacement.

590
00:28:10,021 --> 00:28:13,291
I forget how old I was
when I realized that there is

591
00:28:13,291 --> 00:28:16,995
a modern medicine
makes a heart transplant possible.

592
00:28:17,128 --> 00:28:19,297
I was amazed at that. I'm like,
you got to be kidding me.

593
00:28:19,297 --> 00:28:21,099
You can do it. Heart transplant? Yep.

594
00:28:21,099 --> 00:28:22,500
With the old, in with the new.

595
00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:25,470
At least new to the person
that's going into.

596
00:28:26,538 --> 00:28:29,541
God says we need a heart replacement.

597
00:28:31,009 --> 00:28:33,945
Ezekiel.

598
00:28:33,945 --> 00:28:36,414
Chapter 36, verse 26 says,

599
00:28:36,414 --> 00:28:40,051
I will give you a new heart
and put a new spirit in you.

600
00:28:41,152 --> 00:28:43,321
I will remove from you your heart of stone

601
00:28:43,321 --> 00:28:46,291
and give you a heart of flesh.

602
00:28:47,926 --> 00:28:51,629
So talking about foreshadowing
and forecasting the possibility

603
00:28:51,629 --> 00:28:54,632
and the potential in the work
that Jesus would do on the cross, saying,

604
00:28:54,632 --> 00:28:55,700
we need a new heart.

605
00:28:55,700 --> 00:28:57,602
I'm going to come back to that
a little bit later,

606
00:28:57,602 --> 00:29:00,271
but we need to kind of prime
the pump with that and acknowledge

607
00:29:00,271 --> 00:29:03,341
that when it talk, when it talks
about this, this heart of ours, we

608
00:29:03,374 --> 00:29:05,043
actually need a new one.

609
00:29:07,212 --> 00:29:07,679
One of the

610
00:29:07,679 --> 00:29:10,982
things that I was thinking about
with all this talk about guarding

611
00:29:10,982 --> 00:29:14,419
our heart is it can leave us a little,
a little on edge,

612
00:29:14,419 --> 00:29:17,422
a little wound up.

613
00:29:17,822 --> 00:29:21,092
We're tempted to think when we talk about
guarding, you know, it's

614
00:29:21,092 --> 00:29:25,196
this overprotective, hyper vigilant,
always looking over my shoulder.

615
00:29:25,196 --> 00:29:26,765
Because when you're guarding something,
I mean, that's

616
00:29:26,765 --> 00:29:28,633
kind of the images
that come to mind, right?

617
00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:31,069
If you've been in the military,
you realize and you remember,

618
00:29:31,069 --> 00:29:34,005
you can get in some serious trouble
for falling asleep at your post. Right?

619
00:29:34,005 --> 00:29:35,507
You've got to be on guard.

620
00:29:35,507 --> 00:29:39,477
And it has this idea of
don't let your guard down, be hyper

621
00:29:39,477 --> 00:29:42,480
vigilant, be overprotective,
be hyper alert.

622
00:29:43,748 --> 00:29:46,651
And it's really easy to think that that's
what we're talking about here today.

623
00:29:48,853 --> 00:29:49,954
But it's not like that.

624
00:29:49,954 --> 00:29:51,623
Guarding our heart is not like that.

625
00:29:51,623 --> 00:29:54,626
One of the things that,

626
00:29:55,293 --> 00:29:56,528
when we were in Covid

627
00:29:56,528 --> 00:29:59,898
as a church, I mean, things got weird.

628
00:30:00,031 --> 00:30:03,468
Ministry got super weird
when Covid was going on.

629
00:30:03,835 --> 00:30:07,872
It got super strange and trying
to figure out how to navigate that.

630
00:30:07,872 --> 00:30:09,541
And are we open or are we not open?

631
00:30:09,541 --> 00:30:12,744
And coming out of that,
it kind of much like Covid.

632
00:30:12,777 --> 00:30:17,282
The effects kind of lingered, you know,
and I realized that

633
00:30:17,282 --> 00:30:19,717
a lot of times
ministry can get twisted sideways

634
00:30:19,717 --> 00:30:22,720
and really, really strange
and interesting ways.

635
00:30:23,254 --> 00:30:26,090
And God gave me a verse
out of First Corinthians.

636
00:30:26,090 --> 00:30:29,627
And for some of us,
this needs to be printed out and pinned

637
00:30:29,627 --> 00:30:33,731
on the side of our office
or our door at work, or maybe on the,

638
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,535
your dash of your car.

639
00:30:37,535 --> 00:30:41,172
It says this God is not a God of disorder,
but a God of what?

640
00:30:42,207 --> 00:30:42,774
It's a god.

641
00:30:42,774 --> 00:30:44,609
He's a God of peace

642
00:30:44,609 --> 00:30:49,180
that has helped me when it comes
to guarding my heart from being just,

643
00:30:49,614 --> 00:30:52,750
hyper vigilant and just,
you know, sitting on the edge of my seat

644
00:30:53,117 --> 00:30:55,687
with this attitude of, I've got to be on
guard, got to be on guard.

645
00:30:55,687 --> 00:30:59,691
That idea that God, the God we serve,
if you've put your faith in Christ,

646
00:30:59,691 --> 00:31:01,793
the God we serve is not a God of disorder.

647
00:31:01,793 --> 00:31:03,561
He's not a God of chaos.

648
00:31:03,561 --> 00:31:05,463
He's a God of peace.

649
00:31:05,463 --> 00:31:07,232
Some of y'all are going
to get to work tomorrow,

650
00:31:07,232 --> 00:31:09,200
and you know it's going to be like 9:00.
Nope.

651
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,169
God is a God of peace.

652
00:31:11,169 --> 00:31:12,470
He's not a God of disorder.

653
00:31:12,470 --> 00:31:14,372
That that subtle reminder.

654
00:31:17,809 --> 00:31:20,378
Is worth remembering

655
00:31:20,378 --> 00:31:22,680
because one of the one of the reasons it's

656
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,884
so difficult to guard our heart
is because of the influence of the world.

657
00:31:25,884 --> 00:31:28,620
The world that we live in
seems disorderly.

658
00:31:28,620 --> 00:31:30,521
It seems chaotic.

659
00:31:30,521 --> 00:31:32,757
It comes out us continually all day long.

660
00:31:32,757 --> 00:31:35,760
We never we never get a break.

661
00:31:36,928 --> 00:31:39,664
And so one of the ways that God says
you can guard your heart,

662
00:31:39,664 --> 00:31:41,132
this is actually one of my life

663
00:31:41,132 --> 00:31:44,903
verses right here comes out of Philippians
chapter four, verses six and seven.

664
00:31:45,169 --> 00:31:47,138
Do not be anxious about anything.

665
00:31:47,138 --> 00:31:49,574
I like to put my hand over
the rest of that phrase,

666
00:31:49,574 --> 00:31:52,610
a rest of that passage,
and go easy for you to say. God,

667
00:31:53,878 --> 00:31:55,713
that's really easy for you to say.

668
00:31:55,713 --> 00:31:58,449
Just don't be anxious, okay? Sure.

669
00:31:59,717 --> 00:32:00,852
What should I do instead?

670
00:32:00,852 --> 00:32:02,520
And God says, I'm glad you asked.

671
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,523
In every situation, by prayer

672
00:32:06,457 --> 00:32:10,662
petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.

673
00:32:11,029 --> 00:32:14,933
And the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding, will

674
00:32:16,834 --> 00:32:18,703
guard your hearts.

675
00:32:18,703 --> 00:32:21,205
There it is

676
00:32:21,205 --> 00:32:22,440
the peace of God.

677
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,309
He's not a God of disorder. He's
God of peace.

678
00:32:24,309 --> 00:32:25,743
The God of peace.

679
00:32:25,743 --> 00:32:29,280
Will, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts

680
00:32:29,514 --> 00:32:32,517
and your minds in Christ Jesus.

681
00:32:32,650 --> 00:32:36,587
Come before him with prayer,
asking with thanksgiving,

682
00:32:36,587 --> 00:32:39,590
and give it all to God.

683
00:32:40,925 --> 00:32:43,127
The Apostle John,

684
00:32:43,127 --> 00:32:43,861
when it comes to this

685
00:32:43,861 --> 00:32:47,732
idea of guarding our heart, he says, here,
I've got some other good advice.

686
00:32:47,732 --> 00:32:51,336
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit,

687
00:32:51,469 --> 00:32:54,839
but test the spirits
to see whether they are from God

688
00:32:55,173 --> 00:33:00,211
says, don't just allow things to run amuck
and come into your heart.

689
00:33:00,378 --> 00:33:05,149
Don't just allow everything
to have its way when it comes to where you

690
00:33:05,683 --> 00:33:09,320
where these ideas and where
these decisions get hatched, test them.

691
00:33:16,361 --> 00:33:18,730
The Apostle
Paul says we demolish arguments

692
00:33:18,730 --> 00:33:22,033
and every pretension that sets itself up
against the knowledge of God,

693
00:33:22,133 --> 00:33:26,237
and we take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ.

694
00:33:27,071 --> 00:33:30,074
He says, this is how you guard your heart.

695
00:33:31,142 --> 00:33:33,878
You don't just allow your thoughts
to run amok.

696
00:33:33,878 --> 00:33:37,015
How many of you, are on your phones?

697
00:33:37,015 --> 00:33:39,884
At least within
within an hour of waking up?

698
00:33:39,884 --> 00:33:42,286
Be honest, you guys.
How many of you on your phones at least?

699
00:33:42,286 --> 00:33:44,389
Yeah, I read I am too.

700
00:33:44,389 --> 00:33:47,025
That's why, you know,
I want to commiserate with you guys.

701
00:33:47,025 --> 00:33:49,093
I read somewhere I heard somebody talking.

702
00:33:49,093 --> 00:33:52,964
That hour of not being on your phone in
the morning is like,

703
00:33:52,964 --> 00:33:55,233
I mean, that is a game changer.

704
00:33:55,233 --> 00:33:57,802
And I started doing that
where I'm just like, nope.

705
00:33:57,802 --> 00:34:01,472
The phone is away for at least an hour

706
00:34:01,906 --> 00:34:05,043
before or after I get up in the morning.

707
00:34:07,512 --> 00:34:10,882
The Apostle Paul
says, take all those thoughts captive.

708
00:34:10,882 --> 00:34:12,784
Make them obedient to Christ.

709
00:34:12,784 --> 00:34:17,121
Don't just let things run amuck, run
haywire in your mind.

710
00:34:17,388 --> 00:34:20,224
Guard what comes in.

711
00:34:20,224 --> 00:34:21,726
You guys, I have had.

712
00:34:21,726 --> 00:34:23,194
Oh God.

713
00:34:23,194 --> 00:34:26,798
I cannot tell you how many conversations
I've had with teenage girls.

714
00:34:26,798 --> 00:34:29,634
It's mostly teenage girls. For some
I have daughters.

715
00:34:29,634 --> 00:34:30,468
So that's.

716
00:34:30,468 --> 00:34:32,837
That's the circles that I've been put in.

717
00:34:32,837 --> 00:34:36,040
I had so many conversations
with teenage girls and they'll say

718
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:39,911
with just wide open,

719
00:34:41,012 --> 00:34:43,281
expecting eyes.

720
00:34:43,281 --> 00:34:46,651
He's so dot, dot, dot,
we're going to be so dot, dot dot.

721
00:34:46,751 --> 00:34:48,986
This is going to be,
you know, dot, dot, dot.

722
00:34:48,986 --> 00:34:53,024
And I'll and I'll literally say to them,
girl, you've got to guard your heart.

723
00:34:53,458 --> 00:34:54,792
You've got to guard your heart.

724
00:34:54,792 --> 00:34:57,795
Because right now
things are just anything gets him.

725
00:34:57,829 --> 00:34:58,930
Yeah. Come on in.

726
00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:01,399
All the thoughts. Yep yep yeah.

727
00:35:01,399 --> 00:35:05,103
And I'll say to them please, please
guard your heart.

728
00:35:05,103 --> 00:35:08,106
And some of them will be like,
what are you even talking about?

729
00:35:08,306 --> 00:35:09,774
And then that's a great conversation.

730
00:35:09,774 --> 00:35:12,577
But others of them are like,
I know, but I just can't help it.

731
00:35:20,284 --> 00:35:23,554
This these
three passages that we just looked at,

732
00:35:23,554 --> 00:35:27,258
they they presuppose
one very, very important passage.

733
00:35:27,258 --> 00:35:30,361
And for a lot of you, this is going to be
something that's very familiar to you.

734
00:35:30,595 --> 00:35:32,697
Paul writes
in his letter to the church in Rome,

735
00:35:32,697 --> 00:35:35,700
do not conform
to the pattern of this world,

736
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,270
but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind.

737
00:35:39,670 --> 00:35:44,308
Then you will be able to test and approve
what God's will is.

738
00:35:44,308 --> 00:35:47,612
His good, pleasing and perfect will.

739
00:35:50,915 --> 00:35:52,517
How do we guard our heart?

740
00:35:52,517 --> 00:35:54,852
We transform our mind.
Everybody, take your right hand.

741
00:35:54,852 --> 00:35:56,521
Hold it up like that.
You want to hold it up high?

742
00:35:56,521 --> 00:35:57,555
Come on, you guys. I know it's early.

743
00:35:57,555 --> 00:35:59,056
You can do it. Right hand up.

744
00:35:59,056 --> 00:36:01,926
Finger point your mind.

745
00:36:01,926 --> 00:36:03,828
Take this one. Point your heart.

746
00:36:05,730 --> 00:36:05,997
There's

747
00:36:05,997 --> 00:36:09,000
about, what, 12, maybe 18in
between the two.

748
00:36:09,167 --> 00:36:10,801
Right. Physical things.

749
00:36:10,801 --> 00:36:11,035
All right.

750
00:36:11,035 --> 00:36:13,004
You can put your hands down now,

751
00:36:13,004 --> 00:36:18,075
when it comes to our spiritual heart,
the mind is the thing that envelops it.

752
00:36:18,109 --> 00:36:20,311
The mind is the guard to it.

753
00:36:20,311 --> 00:36:24,182
The mind is the thing that says, nope,
you're not getting in,

754
00:36:24,182 --> 00:36:26,984
but I want it so bad. I know you do,
and you're not getting in.

755
00:36:26,984 --> 00:36:29,954
The mind is the thing that goes,
I'm going to need to see some ID

756
00:36:29,954 --> 00:36:33,824
you do, not just to get
you do not just get to get in.

757
00:36:34,759 --> 00:36:37,562
When we renew our mind with God's Word,

758
00:36:37,562 --> 00:36:40,531
then we are able to demolish arguments.

759
00:36:40,531 --> 00:36:43,000
Then we are able to take thoughts captive.

760
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,469
Then we are able to test the spirits.

761
00:36:45,469 --> 00:36:48,472
Then we are able to not be anxious.

762
00:36:48,706 --> 00:36:52,977
It all supposes
that we're continually renewing our mind.

763
00:36:53,377 --> 00:36:55,046
One of the things we did, some of you,

764
00:36:55,046 --> 00:36:57,081
some of you students were here
the night we actually did this.

765
00:36:57,081 --> 00:37:01,352
Carl and I had this weird experiment
experience, an experiment

766
00:37:01,586 --> 00:37:03,187
last year with the youth program.

767
00:37:03,187 --> 00:37:04,922
We kind of tag team to youth
while we were looking,

768
00:37:04,922 --> 00:37:07,425
and Michael came at the end of the summer
and saved the day.

769
00:37:07,425 --> 00:37:11,963
But for, one whole year of school,
it was Carl and I kind of tag teaming

770
00:37:12,063 --> 00:37:12,930
the youth program

771
00:37:14,432 --> 00:37:16,534
and the kids, you know, they

772
00:37:16,534 --> 00:37:20,605
they took opportunities to kind of
to kind of jab at us, which was fantastic.

773
00:37:20,605 --> 00:37:21,872
It was it was hilarious.

774
00:37:21,872 --> 00:37:24,875
And one of the or one of the nights,

775
00:37:24,909 --> 00:37:27,078
it was one of the leaders,
I forget who it was.

776
00:37:27,078 --> 00:37:28,613
Came up with this idea.

777
00:37:28,613 --> 00:37:31,082
Do your best, Pastor Carl.

778
00:37:31,082 --> 00:37:34,051
And he got up there and he goes,
all right.

779
00:37:38,556 --> 00:37:41,058
And the place just fell out.

780
00:37:41,058 --> 00:37:44,061
I was like, that. Is it right there?

781
00:37:44,128 --> 00:37:47,498
If you've ever seen Pastor Carl do that,
that's what he's talking about.

782
00:37:47,498 --> 00:37:50,568
The mind, the heart, the mind, the heart.

783
00:37:50,568 --> 00:37:54,138
The mind is what envelops the heart
and says, nope, you're not getting in.

784
00:37:54,338 --> 00:37:54,805
Okay?

785
00:37:54,805 --> 00:37:57,808
You get in.

786
00:37:58,009 --> 00:38:01,412
Guarding our heart means
recognize the good and bring it in.

787
00:38:01,412 --> 00:38:06,584
Identify the bad and keep it out
through the transforming of our mind.

788
00:38:08,919 --> 00:38:10,621
So let's talk about some real

789
00:38:10,621 --> 00:38:13,624
practical ways to do this.

790
00:38:14,458 --> 00:38:15,326
I didn't bring my phone.

791
00:38:15,326 --> 00:38:16,794
I'm going to have to have my phone
for second service.

792
00:38:16,794 --> 00:38:18,529
Everybody take out your phone.
Right. First.

793
00:38:18,529 --> 00:38:19,897
First time for everything.

794
00:38:19,897 --> 00:38:22,366
I'm being asked to take out
my phone in church.

795
00:38:22,366 --> 00:38:23,134
Take out your phone.

796
00:38:23,134 --> 00:38:26,137
Most of you have an alarm app
on your phone.

797
00:38:26,337 --> 00:38:28,039
On the iPhone. I think it's that little.

798
00:38:28,039 --> 00:38:28,439
There's a

799
00:38:28,439 --> 00:38:31,275
you can go to the alarms place,
and you can set an alarm

800
00:38:31,275 --> 00:38:33,477
that little plus up in the right hand
side of it.

801
00:38:33,477 --> 00:38:37,815
I want you guys to set an alarm for
some time this afternoon or this evening.

802
00:38:38,015 --> 00:38:40,418
If you're going to be in a spot
where you might interrupt somebody,

803
00:38:40,418 --> 00:38:41,485
where you it's
going to get you in trouble.

804
00:38:41,485 --> 00:38:43,721
Don't set it for then,
but set it for some time.

805
00:38:43,721 --> 00:38:45,022
This afternoon or this evening.

806
00:38:45,022 --> 00:38:47,558
And the label. Here's the label.
You guys ready?

807
00:38:47,558 --> 00:38:48,726
What has my heart

808
00:38:49,694 --> 00:38:50,928
that's going to be the label?

809
00:38:50,928 --> 00:38:53,931
What has my heart

810
00:38:54,565 --> 00:38:55,366
so many times?

811
00:38:55,366 --> 00:38:57,001
Even if you're taking notes,
a lot of times

812
00:38:57,001 --> 00:38:58,502
we walk out of here and we have things

813
00:38:58,502 --> 00:39:01,305
we're doing on Sunday afternoon,
and maybe we get back to what,

814
00:39:01,305 --> 00:39:03,507
you know, what we talked about sometime
during the week.

815
00:39:03,507 --> 00:39:06,944
For a lot of you, this is going
to actually force force you to discuss it.

816
00:39:07,111 --> 00:39:10,114
Ideally, you'll be with people who,

817
00:39:10,748 --> 00:39:13,751
who do life with you
or who you do life with.

818
00:39:13,784 --> 00:39:14,952
And it's so interesting.

819
00:39:14,952 --> 00:39:18,622
I know that if this alarm goes off
when my family is around me,

820
00:39:18,656 --> 00:39:21,692
they'll be able to answer that question
almost better than I will.

821
00:39:22,326 --> 00:39:24,161
I'll just go, hey,
girls. What? How's my heart?

822
00:39:24,161 --> 00:39:26,831
And they'll be they'll be able to say,
let me tell you that

823
00:39:26,831 --> 00:39:30,434
for some of you, the place you're at
will tell you what has your heart.

824
00:39:30,468 --> 00:39:33,104
You'll look at your phone,
you go, what has my heart?

825
00:39:33,104 --> 00:39:34,939
This. This has my heart.

826
00:39:37,975 --> 00:39:39,110
So that's step one.

827
00:39:39,110 --> 00:39:41,178
That's the first way
you can really apply this.

828
00:39:41,178 --> 00:39:43,381
And, this idea of guarding your heart.

829
00:39:43,381 --> 00:39:46,050
The second way.

830
00:39:46,050 --> 00:39:47,518
I don't think I had the slide
for this up there.

831
00:39:47,518 --> 00:39:51,455
The second way is if you haven't signed up
for that seven Primal Questions workshop

832
00:39:51,455 --> 00:39:55,393
that's happening on October 12th,
that is a really good way

833
00:39:55,826 --> 00:39:58,829
to find out more about this,
to put this into practice, really,

834
00:39:59,830 --> 00:40:02,833
when I went into ministry full time
anyway,

835
00:40:04,034 --> 00:40:05,936
I was so sick of assessments.

836
00:40:05,936 --> 00:40:07,238
I was I had had it.

837
00:40:07,238 --> 00:40:10,374
I was like, if I have to take
if I have to scan one more QR code

838
00:40:10,374 --> 00:40:12,710
and take one more assessment
because, you know,

839
00:40:12,710 --> 00:40:16,347
you learn about your spiritual gifts
and you learn your evangelical style.

840
00:40:16,514 --> 00:40:19,650
And, you know, there was this assessment
after Strengthsfinder and disc

841
00:40:19,650 --> 00:40:23,354
and God help us, the Enneagram,
whenever that came around.

842
00:40:23,521 --> 00:40:27,124
But I was sick of assessments,
but we were at an accelerate event

843
00:40:27,124 --> 00:40:28,959
with Excel in Arizona.

844
00:40:28,959 --> 00:40:32,096
And, Laurie was talking Laurie pairing,
who was up here a couple of weeks ago.

845
00:40:32,096 --> 00:40:33,731
She's
going to be facilitating the workshop.

846
00:40:33,731 --> 00:40:35,900
She was talking about it, and I'm like,
what the heck?

847
00:40:35,900 --> 00:40:38,402
I don't have anything else to do. I'm
going to take this assessment.

848
00:40:38,402 --> 00:40:42,606
Learning my primal question
and how that manifests itself in my life

849
00:40:42,873 --> 00:40:45,876
was heart guarding gold.

850
00:40:46,477 --> 00:40:49,480
I was like, okay, this is crazy.

851
00:40:49,647 --> 00:40:53,050
So if you haven't signed up for that
workshop, please take advantage of that.

852
00:40:53,818 --> 00:40:55,586
Some of you signed up
and you got the email

853
00:40:55,586 --> 00:40:58,789
saying you're signed up, but you didn't
follow the link that actually allows you

854
00:40:58,789 --> 00:40:59,690
take the assessment.

855
00:41:00,925 --> 00:41:02,059
Definitely follow that link.

856
00:41:02,059 --> 00:41:03,861
What's going to happen
is at the end of that assessment,

857
00:41:03,861 --> 00:41:05,863
you're going to get
what your primal question is.

858
00:41:05,863 --> 00:41:08,699
Mine is, am I good enough?

859
00:41:08,699 --> 00:41:12,169
I won't rat anybody else out,
but you're going to get the result.

860
00:41:12,169 --> 00:41:14,638
Am I loved?
Am I good enough to have a purpose?

861
00:41:14,638 --> 00:41:16,674
And my successful on and on and on.

862
00:41:16,674 --> 00:41:19,376
You'll get that primal question,
even if you know that.

863
00:41:19,376 --> 00:41:20,911
But you're like, what does this even mean?

864
00:41:20,911 --> 00:41:23,180
That's what
the workshop's going to tell you about.

865
00:41:23,180 --> 00:41:25,950
When you come to the workshop, you're
going to go, oh, this is what this means.

866
00:41:25,950 --> 00:41:28,819
So sign up for that.

867
00:41:28,819 --> 00:41:31,822
Take the assessment,
come to the workshop on October 12th.

868
00:41:31,822 --> 00:41:33,257
It's going to be really, really good.

869
00:41:33,257 --> 00:41:34,625
And it's going to be a really good way

870
00:41:34,625 --> 00:41:38,062
to actually put what we're talking about
today, into practice.

871
00:41:38,963 --> 00:41:41,899
Could you imagine,
can you imagine, you guys,

872
00:41:41,899 --> 00:41:45,336
what things would be like if we got to be
really good at guarding our heart?

873
00:41:45,569 --> 00:41:48,339
If it got to be, like, automatic,
like kind of like riding a

874
00:41:48,339 --> 00:41:49,440
bike when I'm teaching,

875
00:41:50,841 --> 00:41:51,609
music students.

876
00:41:51,609 --> 00:41:53,377
Drums, guitar, bass.

877
00:41:53,377 --> 00:41:54,445
I'll tell them all the time.

878
00:41:54,445 --> 00:41:57,815
I say in about four months,
usually there's a bell curve.

879
00:41:57,848 --> 00:41:59,617
These things some, especially if the kids,

880
00:41:59,617 --> 00:42:02,253
when they're in their adolescence,
they just pick stuff up like that.

881
00:42:02,253 --> 00:42:04,755
But there's usually a bell curve
and it's usually about four months.

882
00:42:04,755 --> 00:42:07,758
And when they just start out,
they're really discouraged.

883
00:42:07,925 --> 00:42:09,527
And I'll go, don't get discouraged.

884
00:42:09,527 --> 00:42:13,063
In about four months or so,
this is going to be like riding a bike.

885
00:42:13,097 --> 00:42:15,833
You're not going to think to yourself,
most of us, when we ride a bike,

886
00:42:15,833 --> 00:42:16,734
we don't go, okay,

887
00:42:16,734 --> 00:42:19,069
the left foot is up here
and the right foot is down here,

888
00:42:19,069 --> 00:42:20,371
and then the left foot
is going to go down,

889
00:42:20,371 --> 00:42:22,273
the right foot is going to come up,
and then we're just going to,

890
00:42:22,273 --> 00:42:24,208
you know,
you just get on the bike and ride.

891
00:42:24,208 --> 00:42:25,843
Can you imagine what it would be like

892
00:42:25,843 --> 00:42:29,179
if we got really good
about guarding our heart, about going, no,

893
00:42:30,314 --> 00:42:32,850
not today, not never or.

894
00:42:32,850 --> 00:42:34,451
Yep, I need to be part of that.

895
00:42:34,451 --> 00:42:36,620
That is good stuff, right there.

896
00:42:36,620 --> 00:42:39,557
What our marriages would be like,
what our relationships at work

897
00:42:39,557 --> 00:42:44,995
would be like when we able to go,
no, God is not a God of disorder.

898
00:42:44,995 --> 00:42:45,963
He's a God of peace.

899
00:42:45,963 --> 00:42:48,933
I am not going to let that into my heart.

900
00:42:51,368 --> 00:42:53,170
As we wrap up today,

901
00:42:53,170 --> 00:42:57,474
I talked a little bit earlier
about this idea of a heart replacement.

902
00:42:58,475 --> 00:43:01,712
If you have not put your faith in Christ
as your personal savior,

903
00:43:02,580 --> 00:43:04,982
that is not even step one.

904
00:43:04,982 --> 00:43:06,517
That's like step zero.

905
00:43:06,517 --> 00:43:11,789
Everything else here today is just
sort of things to do once that is done.

906
00:43:12,656 --> 00:43:15,893
If you have not put your faith
in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior,

907
00:43:15,893 --> 00:43:21,131
if you've not acknowledged said to God,
I'm a sinner, Jesus, I need the work.

908
00:43:21,131 --> 00:43:22,299
I need your salvation.

909
00:43:22,299 --> 00:43:24,902
The work you did on the cross
to come into my heart.

910
00:43:24,902 --> 00:43:27,504
You need you to come into my heart,
come into my life and save me

911
00:43:29,006 --> 00:43:30,007
and be my Lord and Savior.

912
00:43:30,007 --> 00:43:33,243
If you've not done that,
if you have any, questions about what

913
00:43:33,243 --> 00:43:35,412
that is, maybe you've heard that.
And what is it?

914
00:43:35,412 --> 00:43:37,314
I'd love to talk to you about that.

915
00:43:37,314 --> 00:43:42,086
It's been so interesting to see our
to our, men's group, our two men's group

916
00:43:42,086 --> 00:43:45,723
that meets, the first Saturday
of every month.

917
00:43:46,991 --> 00:43:49,760
For these guys, these dads,

918
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,697
these husbands
to learn what their evangelical style is.

919
00:43:54,765 --> 00:43:56,500
Carl's is confrontational.

920
00:43:56,500 --> 00:43:57,735
Big surprise. Right?

921
00:43:57,735 --> 00:44:00,104
He's really good about going.
You need Jesus.

922
00:44:00,104 --> 00:44:01,071
I mean, he's really good.

923
00:44:01,071 --> 00:44:03,107
That is not my evangelical style.

924
00:44:03,107 --> 00:44:05,275
My evangelical style is testimonial.

925
00:44:05,275 --> 00:44:08,479
And to see these guys
learn their testimonial,

926
00:44:08,779 --> 00:44:11,849
their evangelical style
has been fantastic.

927
00:44:12,082 --> 00:44:14,852
And so therefore,
I love talking about this stuff. Now.

928
00:44:14,852 --> 00:44:17,254
So if you have any questions about that,
see me.

929
00:44:17,254 --> 00:44:19,890
Our staff
all knows their evangelical style.

930
00:44:19,890 --> 00:44:21,058
See a member of our staff.

931
00:44:21,058 --> 00:44:23,794
We would love to talk
to you about this. And so

932
00:44:25,262 --> 00:44:27,731
guard
your heart is the wellspring of life.

933
00:44:27,731 --> 00:44:29,433
Amen.

934
00:44:29,433 --> 00:44:30,134
Let's wrap up. Today.

935
00:44:30,134 --> 00:44:32,603
I want to pray for us as we go out.

936
00:44:32,603 --> 00:44:34,805
Jesus, we thank you so much for today.

937
00:44:34,805 --> 00:44:37,808
We thank you for all that you've done,

938
00:44:38,075 --> 00:44:41,779
all that you are doing,
and all you will continue to do.

939
00:44:42,012 --> 00:44:46,650
We especially pray for Pastor Carl
and the group that is in Ukraine.

940
00:44:46,984 --> 00:44:51,889
We pray even
now that you will help their trip

941
00:44:51,889 --> 00:44:55,793
to continue to be one of significance,
to be one of kingdom building.

942
00:44:56,460 --> 00:45:00,964
We pray for us as we go out to the places
you've called us to be.

943
00:45:01,565 --> 00:45:06,036
Even today and this week, that
you will help us to keep a guarded heart.

944
00:45:06,036 --> 00:45:09,273
God, not one that's anxious,
not one that's on

945
00:45:10,441 --> 00:45:13,343
super vigilant, but just one that's

946
00:45:13,343 --> 00:45:16,246
peaceful and able to discern between

947
00:45:17,247 --> 00:45:20,350
thoughts that as we take
them captive and spirits as we trust them.

948
00:45:20,551 --> 00:45:23,587
Jesus, we love you and all these things
help us to love you more.

949
00:45:23,921 --> 00:45:24,288
Amen.