Wisdom for the Journey: Guard Your Heart

See, as Christians, we are given the charge to put an end to generational sin. The gospel, grace, God's power, it all equips and charges us to break generational wickedness, to break off the chains of substance use, to break off the chains of foul language, of gossip, of sexual immorality, or blatant unfaithfulness. And we do that so we, and those after us, can be biblically wise, can be proper Jesus followers discerning the world with a Christ centered perspective, and they can make godly decisions. We get the opportunity to participate in what God is doing in raising up families of generational sin breakers, raising up families of godly Jesus followers. [00:55:42] (51 seconds)  #BreakGenerationalSin

When we restrict our heart, when we entertain sin, that spring that is meant to be life nourishing becomes like the Saint John's River, brackish and bitter and distasteful to our own souls and the souls around us. But we are to be overflowing wells of life and grace, which is who Jesus is, and it's who he's creating us to be, to be conformed into the image of the Son to the glory of God. All of our being, our whole self, is to be involved in following him, every aspect of who we are committed to Jesus, to love God and love his word. That's the grace and the call of the third lecture. [01:14:37] (46 seconds)  #OverflowingWellsOfGrace

The danger that exists when we don't think every step matters, we're not convinced in our heart that every step matters, or even more so, when we think there's this middle way of, oh, I can just do one step in the wise, and then one step in the wicked, now back to being wise. If we think that that path exists, our hearts are gonna start thinking, well, it's not that big of a deal. It's just one step. Right? It's just one more insult, one more curse word, one more drink, one more act of immorality, one more episode of anger or violence. [01:06:25] (33 seconds)  #EveryStepMatters

And what we can be thankful for, praise God, is that we have a shepherd who is the light in the darkness. He hears his lost sheep, and he comes to find us. He picks us up out of the thorn bush that we've tangled ourselves up in. He carries us near to His heart, and He heals our wounds, and He sets us back on the path that we were never meant to get off in the first place, and that's grace. That's a shining glimmer of heavenly love. And in faith and repentance, we are told that we are forgiven and that we are to keep on the journey of discipleship. [01:07:45] (43 seconds)  #GoodShepherdRescue

We might think that we won't step back onto the path, but that trail has our footprints embedded in it from our already frequent visits. And sometimes, we think that just because we change our shoes, it's gonna disguise us from where we've been. But that's not the case. Jesus knows, and we know. It disrupts our fellowship with Christ, and it makes our hearts sick. If we continue that path, it will not be long before we find ourselves stumbling more and more, and the darkness is getting deeper until we don't know where we've been, we don't know where we are, and we don't know where we're going, and we need help. We're in trouble. We need help. [01:06:57] (48 seconds)  #TrailsLeaveFootprints

They can relate to the father because even superhero dad and wonder woman mom, they were at a point in their lives also where they needed wisdom, and so they accept it better. Secondly, it shows that this is tried and true. This isn't new. This isn't novel to to my parents. This is what grandpa and his after him have been doing. So this isn't tried this is tried and true godliness. And third, it shows that there is an expectation to the children, that they now have a little skin in the game, so to say, as the expectation is for them to live it out and for them to pass it on, again, to raise up more godly Jesus followers. [00:55:01] (41 seconds)  #GenerationalGodliness

That's Jesus' teaching on the importance of the heart, and Jesus knows the heart, and he knows that we need transformed hearts, and God, in his amazing plan, has set out to do exactly that. And in faith, as we pronounce faith in him, he has begun a good work in us that he will finish, to set free our hearts from the strongholds that we've had, whether now or generationally, so we don't deal with it, and we don't pass that generational sin on. He sets us free to live for him, free from a heart, which is brackish, free for a heart that is spring welled life and nourishment. [01:13:56] (41 seconds)  #TransformedHearts

the journey and the adventures, they're all thrilling. They set out on a new path, the surprising turns, the unexpected slips, the friendships that are made, the greatness of humility and self sacrifice being the turning point for victory over evil. Does it sound familiar? Journeys are amazing, and life is a journey. We too have surprising turns and unexpected slips. We too have the call to self sacrifice, to die to ourselves by carrying our cross as we follow Jesus, and so our journey is one of discipleship. [01:02:43] (40 seconds)  #DiscipleshipJourney