The Heist

``What you feed doesn't stay small. The things you look at, the things you listen to, the things you think about, the things you replay in your mind over and over, the thing you reach for when you're stressed and no one else is looking, it might seem like it begins small and harmless, but what you feed grows. And it can grow until it traps you, and you are held hostage by your very own habits. You need to guard your source. Pay attention to what you are allowing to flow into your life. Fill your life with whatever is good, whatever is honorable, whatever is trustworthy, whatever is right. So that is what will flow through everything you are. Guard your source. [00:56:17] (51 seconds)  #FeedWhatMatters

If you wanna know what's in your heart, your mouth will tell you. Jesus tells us that in Matthew twelve thirty four. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Jesus is saying you're full of it. And whatever it is, we hear when you talk talk about it. It comes out your mouth. Your mouth is the window to what's happening inside of you. And those moments where things really bubble up, whenever that person's not in the room and you say something about them, whenever you come home at the end of the day and you're a little worn out and it's what you choose to say to your family when you're running on empty. So whenever you get stopped for the fourth time in the same day by a train in Fort Wayne, that happened to me Friday, four times, it took forty minutes to do a five minute drive, and I had things to say about it. Your mouth is a gauge of what's happening in your heart. [01:00:09] (61 seconds)  #WordsRevealHeart

guard your heart. Protect your heart. Build defense around your heart. That's cool. But is he talking about a four chambered organ that pumps blood throughout your body? Probably not, although good to take care of your your heart, your organ heart. Right? But what he's talking about here is your innermost self, the source of your will, the seat of your emotions. Not who you pretend to be, not who you present or perform, but your truest, deepest, genuine self. Your truest, deepest, genuine self. This is a part of you that nobody sees right away, but everybody eventually experiences and feels because everything flows from your heart, from who you really are. [00:41:47] (51 seconds)  #GuardYourHeart

Because the thief's greatest lie is that you will find happiness whenever you feed the greed. When you feed the lust, when you trace the fame and the reputation, that all that is gonna equal what you hope for. But look at the world. Did that work? Do people really seem happy? His greatest lie is to try and trick you to live in the gray while he steals your joy and your purpose and your peace. But Jesus came so you could have life. And more than life, he came that you could have life abundantly. [01:07:25] (43 seconds)  #ChooseAbundantLife

Unwholesome talk isn't just limited to profanity. I think that's on the list. But it's also what you say that tears down, that harms, that constantly criticizes and critiques and complains, that damages others. All those things, if you're saying them, it's letting us know what's in here. God doesn't want any unwholesome talk coming out of our mouths, and I love that he gives us the remedy. What we should do about it is that what we should say is the opposite. It takes time to work on your heart. We've all got some unwholesome things swirling around in here. It takes time to heal and for God to grow and work on what's happening in here, but you can start working on what comes out of here today. [01:01:25] (48 seconds)  #SpeakLifeNotToxic

That you go, and when you're at work, you're at school, man, you're invested. You work hard. You're kind to clients. You deliver on deadlines and try your best. You are a person that can be relied on, that is there for other people. And then you come home, and you're tired, and you dump on the people you love. You you you're irritable. You're snappy. You become a lump on the couch. I mean, you can be patient with your boss, but short with your kids. You could be kind to clients and cold to your spouse. You're one person at work or at school and then a completely different person at home when the door closes behind you. That is not guarding your heart. That's living a fractured life split into pieces. One you in the office, one you in the classroom, one you at church, and one you at home, and it leaves the people who love you most trying to figure out which version of you is the real one. [00:50:04] (60 seconds)  #OneLifeOneYou

But he gives us his word not as a list of rules, but as a way to achieve a guarded heart. A heart not confined in the gray, limited to our own pursuit of peace and satisfaction, but instead completely fueled by a love and a relationship that we didn't have to work for, that we don't have to earn, that we don't have to try and maintain. Instead, we are given the gift of his unlimited love. That if you invite him in, not to your public life, not to your professional life, not to your personal life, but if you invite him into the private life of who you are, his power begins to flow through your source into every single arena. And you know something you never knew possible. Abundant life. Not limited, restricted, not survival, but life and color. That is worth guarding. That is worth protecting. Let me pray for you. [01:10:41] (71 seconds)  #InviteJesusIn

And then they came back the next day, and it was a small thing. It didn't really matter that much. It was even a nice thing to do, because they were cute and cuddly little raccoons, so she fed the raccoons. And she kept doing this, not for days, but for decades. And as she continued to feed the family, the little raccoons became bigger raccoons. And there was baby raccoons, and cousin raccoons, and friend raccoons, and raccoons that lived from the other state decided to move to town because they didn't have as much food. And eventually, it grew more and more and more and more until one day, nine one one received a phone call from this woman trapped inside of her home because 100 raccoons had swarmed her property, and she couldn't get out the house because they wanted to feed. It started so small and manageable and became something that held her hostage. This is the same thing as what happens in your private life. [00:55:22] (55 seconds)  #SmallChoicesSpiral