Come Home: From Defended Hearts to Healing Presence

“How’s your heart?” That old question from my grandad still cuts through the noise. We’ve been talking about being a people of God’s presence, and today I pressed into the heart as Scripture defines it—not just emotions, but the control room of our lives. That’s the place where our desires, decisions, motives, and imagination live—but also where the sludge collects: anger, insecurity, anxiety, comparison. Those things aren’t the enemy; they’re signals, invitations for Jesus to meet us where it’s tender or tangled. God’s presence doesn’t just change the atmosphere; it changes us, breaking open what has grown hard so we can be free.

We sat with Jesus’ parable in Luke 18. Two people walked into the temple. One left exactly the same; the other walked home justified and exalted. The difference wasn’t location or liturgy; it was posture. The Pharisee presented his résumé; the tax collector brought his reality. He didn’t try to achieve righteousness; he received it. Grace lifts the one who drops the act. This is why we pray, “Create in me a clean heart,” and why we expect to leave different: the presence of God restores what sin, shame, and pride have strangled.

I spoke about the ways the sludge rises: feelings, feedback, and fallout. Under pressure or in close community, our reactions expose what still needs healing. We can ignore it, defend ourselves, and manage appearances—or we can walk the path of transformation. I outlined four movements that keep us honest and healthy: courage to admit what’s wrong, humility to take it seriously (without hiding behind comparison), wisdom to bring it into God’s presence rather than echo chambers, and faith to get up and go home different.

I told some of my own stories—apologising when I didn’t want to, being called out for entitlement, confessing double life as a 21-year-old—and how each time, the Lord met me, humbled me, and gave me rest and restoration. The enemy tempts us with two lies: “You’ve done nothing wrong” and “You’ve done too much wrong.” Jesus charts a narrow path between denial and despair. In him, mercy is new every morning. So come home. Come honest. Come undefended. The one who justified the tax collector still clothes people in righteousness and lifts those who bow low. Freedom from the past, purpose in the present, and hope for the future—that’s what his presence does.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Invite Jesus into your control room The heart is not a mood ring; it’s the operating system. When anger or fear spikes, don’t perform; present yourself. Invite Jesus into motives and imaginations, not just behaviours, and ask him to make truth and tenderness your new baseline. Pray “Create in me a clean heart” as a daily surrender, not a one-off crisis. [01:26]
• 2. Treat anger and anxiety as invitations Emotional flare-ups are signals, not failures. When pressure reveals sludge, ask, “What is my heart telling me I haven’t faced?” Let feelings lead you to the Father, not to shortcuts. With the Spirit, feelings, feedback, and fallout become doorways into freedom rather than detours into denial. [11:54]
• 3. Trade comparison for courageous humility Comparison is a painkiller that numbs conviction and delays healing. Humility names reality without excuses and resists the “at least I’m not like them” reflex. Pride keeps us polished and stuck; humility gets us honest and lifted. Repentance is not self-loathing, it’s truth-telling in the presence of mercy. [19:12]
• 4. Go to Presence, not performance Venting can make you feel momentarily lighter, but only repenting makes you new. Bring your whole mess into God’s presence, not just to self-help techniques or echo chambers. Mercy is not vague compassion; it’s blood-bought atonement—grace that actually removes the stain and restores fellowship. [25:22]
• 5. Practice courage, humility, wisdom, faith Transformation moves: courage to admit, humility to take it seriously, wisdom to bring it to Jesus, faith to get up. These aren’t emergency steps; they’re a rhythm for everyday holiness. Over time, they turn reactions into revelation and pain into pathways of grace. [14:37]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:53] - All-in river and heart surrender
• [01:26] - The heart as life’s control room
• [02:08] - Presence that heals hidden places
• [04:31] - Two men at the temple
• [05:34] - Motions of religion vs grace
• [06:38] - Exalted: lifted from the mud
• [09:47] - When mess surfaces: our spiritual system
• [11:54] - Feelings, feedback, and fallout
• [14:37] - Four movements of a healed heart
• [18:37] - Humility over comparison and pride
• [25:22] - Mercy in the temple and atonement
• [28:18] - The narrow path between two lies
• [30:24] - Righteousness received, not achieved
• [35:27] - Come home, come honest, be lifted

Bible Reading

- Luke 18:9–14 (ESV) — 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Observation Questions

1. In Luke 18:11–13 what different words and actions does each man use in his prayer? What does that contrast reveal about their hearts? (focus on the text)
2. The sermon describes the heart as the “control room” where desires, imagination, motives, and also sludge live. Which specific kinds of sludge did the speaker name? [01:46]
3. The preacher says “he went home justified” is like life being returned to the man. From the passage and the sermon, what does “justified” (made right) look like for the tax collector? [06:08]
4. Both men went into the same place (the temple) but left differently. How does the setting (temple/temple sacrifice imagery) shape the meaning of the tax collector’s plea for mercy? [26:27]

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the Pharisee’s religious practice (fasting, tithing, public prayer) fail to produce humility in him? What does the sermon suggest about the limits of moral effort? [15:12]
2. How does the speaker interpret the word translated “have mercy” as connected to temple sacrifice and atonement? What difference does that connection make for understanding the tax collector’s prayer? [26:27]
3. The sermon identifies two enemy lies: “you’ve done nothing wrong” and “you’ve done too much wrong.” How does the preacher place the Christian life between these two lies, and what theological reason is given why neither lie should define a believer? [28:18]
4. The preacher says the tax collector “received” righteousness while the Pharisee tried to “achieve” it. What implications does this distinction have for how one should approach repentance and daily faith? (ground this in Luke 18)

Application Questions

1. Name one recurring “sludge” in your life (anger, insecurity, anxiety, comparison, etc.). Give a recent, specific example when it rose to the surface. This week, what is one courageous step you will take to admit it and begin to deal with it? [11:54]
2. Who are two people in your life who can give you honest, loving feedback (not just flatter or defend you)? If you don’t have anyone, who will you ask to be that person this week? Make a plan to contact them within seven days. [24:41]
3. Think of a time when you minimized your sin by comparing yourself to someone else (“at least I’m not like…”) rather than confessing it. How could you reframe that moment in a humble confession like the tax collector’s, and what would your first practical step of repentance look like? [19:12]
4. Next time you feel the urge to vent about someone or a situation, what single spiritual practice will you choose instead that takes you into God’s presence (for example: pray the phrase “Create in me a clean heart,” read Luke 18 slowly, call a trusted friend, or sit in silent confession)? Commit to doing that practice the next time the feeling rises. [25:22]
5. Of the four movements named in the sermon—courage to admit, humility to take it seriously, wisdom to go to the right place, faith to get up—which is the weakest for you now? Pick one concrete, measurable step you will take this week to strengthen that movement (e.g., send an apology email, schedule a meeting with a mentor, read a short passage and pray each morning, or make a restorative phone call). [14:37]
6. For seven days, pray and/or journal the brief prayer “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Each day note one small way you sensed God’s presence or one way your heart’s posture changed. Be prepared to share one of those notes with the group next meeting. [02:50]