Your heart is the real you—the moral and spiritual center from which your words, choices, and relationships flow. Culture may say “follow your heart,” but grace calls you to let your heart be remade from the inside out by Jesus. When secondary things become primary, the soul grows restless and angry; when Jesus is primary, everything else finds its proper place. Today is an invitation to live connected to your heart by surrendering it to the One who knows it best and loves it most. Ask Him to reorder your loves so that your life flows with clarity, joy, and purpose. [43:34]
Proverbs 4:23
Pay close attention to your inner life and guard it carefully, because everything you do—your steps, your words, your choices—springs from there.
Reflection: What secondary thing has been quietly moving into first place in your heart, and what specific act of surrender could you practice this week to put Jesus back at the center?
You train for the life you want to live, and your soul needs a steady diet of God’s Word to become strong and clear. Press Scripture into your heart until it shapes what you love, how you think, and what you approve as truly excellent. When life “cuts” you, may the Bible be what flows out—truth that steadies emotions, guides decisions, and points you to Jesus. If you’ve been in a dry spell, begin simply and consistently; let the Word warm what has grown cold. Ask God to make you a Jesus-pleasing, Jesus-honoring person who delights in His voice. [46:43]
Philippians 1:9–10
I’m praying your love keeps overflowing—guided by real knowledge and wise insight—so you can recognize what is best and live with sincerity and purity for the day Christ is seen.
Reflection: What one recurring thought pattern needs to be replaced, and which single verse will you memorize and rehearse this week to answer it?
Hearts do not stay soft on their own; without regular encouragement, faith grows numb, and sin’s lies start to sound convincing. God uses the voices of brothers and sisters to keep us awake to truth—specific, timely encouragement that cracks hard layers and keeps us tender to Him. Don’t wait for a perfect moment; “today” is the window. Offer concrete words that name the grace you see, and invite others to speak into your life, too. Mutual encouragement is a Spirit-given way to help one another keep saying yes to Jesus. [50:02]
Hebrews 3:12–13
Watch your hearts, brothers and sisters, so none of you drifts away from the living God. Instead, keep encouraging each other every single day while it’s still called “today,” so sin won’t trick you and harden you.
Reflection: Who will you encourage today, and what specific grace in their life will you name when you reach out?
You are an embodied soul, made to give others the gift of your physical, attentive presence. Screens pull us “forever elsewhere,” but love looks up, listens, and lingers. Jesus showed us the way: the Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood—He did not send a message from a distance but came near. Choose presence on purpose: put the phone away at the table, look into eyes, and let your attention become a ministry. Your heart will grow more connected to God and people as you inhabit the moment with compassion and focus. [52:25]
John 1:14
God’s eternal Word took on human flesh and lived among us; we saw His glory up close—real, grace-filled, and true—God drawing near in a way we could see and touch.
Reflection: In what daily moment will you trade a screen for face-to-face presence this week, and what boundary will help you keep that promise?
Self-control is self-command—freedom under wise limits—so your desires serve Jesus instead of enslaving you. Without it, secondary goals crowd out what matters most, and life slides out of balance; with it, loves are rightly ordered and the soul finds peace. This requires training, not trying once: small, repeatable choices that align appetite, schedule, and habits with the will of God. Ask the Spirit to help you say no to what dulls your love and yes to what strengthens it. In this way, you will run your race with purpose. [56:59]
1 Corinthians 9:24–25
In a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize—so run to win. Athletes practice strict discipline for a fading crown; we practice it for a lasting one.
Reflection: What desire has been running the show lately, and what single, concrete limit or practice will you adopt for the next seven days to bring it under Christ’s lead?
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” With Proverbs 4:23 as the anchor, the call is simple and weighty: live connected to your heart. Life does not drift toward spiritual health; it is trained into it. Jesus didn’t come to make people merely moral or nice—he came to make them new, changing them from the inside out. The heart, the moral and spiritual command center of a person, governs words, desires, and direction. When secondary goods—success, romance, family, money—are elevated to primary loves, the soul grows restless and brittle. But when Jesus is the primary love, everything else finds its proper place.
Four rhythms cultivate a life that stays close to the heart God is shaping. First, press the Bible into the heart. Saturate the mind with what is true, noble, and lovely so that, when “cut,” Scripture is what bleeds. Second, seek to encourage and be encouraged. Faith grows cold without warmth and gets numb without stirring; specific encouragement softens hardened places and helps believers persevere. Third, be physically present. Embodied souls are meant for embodied presence; technology can serve love, but it often fragments attention and pulls us inward. Christ himself put on flesh—he didn’t send a message; he came. Fourth, live a self-controlled life. Self-command is freedom. Ordered loves—what Augustine called rightly ordered affections—restore balance, curb enslaving desires, and make room for joy.
This vision confronts expressive individualism’s “follow your heart” mantra. The gospel calls people to belong to Jesus and to be remade by him. That includes turning from disordered loves and embracing a Spirit-empowered life that says yes to what Jesus loves and no to what he hates. It also includes a clear invitation: repent, believe, and call upon the name of the Lord. For any who admit sin, trust Christ’s finished work, and call on him, God grants forgiveness, a clean conscience, and a new heart. Courage then takes a tangible step—owning faith publicly, entering a life of Scripture, encouragement, presence, and self-control. All of life is all for him.
Jesus knows our hearts. He knows our hearts. And, of course, he sees your actions, and he sees your words, he sees mine, and he administers a flawless, precise, and thorough, and comprehensive judgment. You and I are flawed, and we need to be changed. We need to be changed. That's the message of Jesus. That's the message of Christmas. [01:00:53] (24 seconds) #JesusKnowsYourHeart
Christmas was and is a declaration that we trust and love and obey all sorts of things, and Jesus gently reminds us at times, sometimes quietly, sometimes lively, hey, I'm here. He's on a relentless pursuit of your heart. And if we're really going to live connected to your heart, you need to know Jesus. [01:02:15] (21 seconds) #JesusRelentlessPursuit
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Dec 29, 2025. Do you have any questions about it?
Add this chatbot onto your site with the embed code below
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://pastors.ai/sermonWidget/sermon/live-connected-heart-nate-millican" width="100%" height="100%" style="height:100vh;"></iframe>Copy