Clean Transcript

Keeping the Heart

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• All right, let's open our Bibles to Proverbs chapter 4 today. Proverbs chapter 4. Let me tell you in advance that I believe the message I'm going to share with you today is one of the most fundamental, foundational messages that you will ever hear. I preach this message innumerable times. I preach this message myself over and over. In fact, I preach it almost to myself on a daily basis. If you do not grasp these principles, you will never, ever be successful in your Christian life. Proverbs chapter 4, beginning with verse 23, God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."

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• "Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet. Let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil." The message is simply entitled, "Keeping the Heart," for God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." The most needful and yet the most difficult exercise is that of keeping the heart.

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• Someone has appropriately said that our hearts are like water. They're very easy to keep, or very difficult to keep, and very easy to run out of bounds, because our hearts, like water, will always follow the course of least resistance. In fact, if you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 2 Chronicles 16 and look at verse 9, let me show you how few people really, genuinely keep their hearts. 2 Chronicles 16:9, the Word of God says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him." Now listen to that. "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." Why? "To show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him." So God is looking for individuals who keep their heart that God might show Himself strong through those individuals. How few really keep their hearts if God must search the earth to find one that will be true to Him.

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• Now, the doctrine that I want to emphasize today is this: that the keeping and the right managing of the heart under every circumstance and every situation is the great business of the Christian's life. You see, the great difficulty in conversion is winning the heart. The great difficulty after conversion is keeping the heart.

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• Now, if you look back in Proverbs 4:23, the Word of God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Now, I want to give you a broad overview of what I want to cover today. Three simple points. First of all, a clear command: "Keep thine heart with all diligence." Secondly, a personal responsibility—I'll explain it—you keep your heart with all diligence.

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• And thirdly, an explanatory reason: "For out of it are the issues of life."

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• Now, let's go back to this first point. A clear command. God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence." Here's a simple, straightforward statement. Every one of us understands that God commands us to keep our heart. In fact, the Hebrew is very emphatic. It is literally "keep with all keeping my heart" or "set double guards around your heart" or "keep your heart above or before anything else." In other words, the prime duty is keeping the heart. Now, before we can keep our hearts, we have to know what the heart really is. When God says, "Keep our heart with all diligence," He is not referring to the physical organ in our chest. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of thankful that our hearts are an involuntary muscle.

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• What do I mean by that? It pumps and it beats whether we think about it or not. I'm thankful I don't have to lie awake at night saying, "Beat, heart, beat. Pump, heart, beat, pump." I mean, it just keeps doing it. I don't ever think about it. One of these days, that heart's going to stop, and there's nothing I can do about that. I can't make it beat again. So when God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence," He is not talking about the physical organ in our chest. Well, what in the world is He talking about? Well, the interesting thing is, I've asked people down through the years, "What is the heart?" And the interesting thing is, people will respond with something like this: "Well, you know the heart, it's the innermost being of man." Well, wonderful. What's the innermost being of man? "Well, you know, it's the conscience." Well, what's the conscience? "Well, you know, it's the soul." Well, what's the soul? "Well, you know, it's the innermost being of man." And you keep going round and round, and no one ever finds out what the heart is.

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• How in the world can you keep your heart if you don't know what the heart is? Now, I want to show you five or six passages that should spell it out for you very plainly. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. Genesis 6:5. This is the very first time the word "heart" is mentioned in the Bible. This is known in hermeneutics as the law of first mention, and the very first time something is mentioned in the Bible,

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• usually, that's the way it's going to be used throughout the entire Bible, unless the context indicates otherwise. So Genesis 6:5: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now note, the Bible specifically says, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now, whatever the heart is, it can think, it can imagine, for God saw the imagination and God saw the thoughts of the heart. Now, look in your Bibles, if you would please, to Genesis 27 and verse 1.

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• You know how Jacob has taken not only the blessing from Esau, but of course, he also got the birthright. But you remember how Jacob has deceived his father, pretended to be Esau, and has gone in and gotten Esau's blessing. Actually, it was still Jacob's blessing, because the blessing went with the birthright. And verse 38, "And Esau said to his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept." And I think his father answered and said of him, "Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother. It shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." Now watch. "And Esau hated Jacob because the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand;

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• then will I slay my brother Jacob." Now, whatever the heart is, according to Genesis 6:5, it can think and it can imagine. Whatever the heart is, according to Genesis 27:41, it can speak. For Esau said in his heart. Then if you look in Proverbs chapter 5 and verse 12, Proverbs 5:12, notice what the heart says: "And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof?" So according to Proverbs 5:12, the heart is either capable of receiving instruction or despising it. So the heart can think, it can imagine, it can speak, and it can either receive or despise instruction. Many of you will turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, verses 27 and 28, and look at what our Lord said. Matthew 5:27-28. Our Lord said it like this: Matthew 5:27,

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• "You've heard it said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say to you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Now notice what he said. "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart." In other words, there is a connection between the eyes and the heart. Because our Lord said, "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already."

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• Now, the Bible says the heart is capable of thinking and imagining, the heart is capable of speaking, the heart is capable of receiving or despising instruction, and somehow the heart is intimately connected with the eyes. Now, if you haven't figured out what it is, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Daniel, chapter 4, and I'll show you from Scripture what the heart really is. The book of Daniel, chapter 4.

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• And let's begin reading there with verse 16. Now, you remember that Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, arrogant, haughty monarch. And God decreed to bring him down a notch or two. So in Daniel 4:16, look what God says concerning Nebuchadnezzar: "Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him and let seven times pass over him." Now, seven times is just the Chaldean way of saying seven years.

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• "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." Now go back to verse 16. Look at exactly what God says concerning Nebuchadnezzar: "Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him."

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• Now, let's see how it came to pass. Look in verse 28 of Daniel chapter 4. The Bible says, "All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar, and at the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And they shall make thee eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, and he did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws.

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• Now let's stop there. Now God said, "Let his heart be changed from a man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him." So for seven years, Nebuchadnezzar was driven insane. It's a condition known as boanthropy. His hair grew like bird's feathers, his fingernails grew like bird's claws, and he ate grass like an ox.

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• Now, I know that you can quote it, but look back at verse 16. What did God say? "Let his what? His heart be changed from a man's and to a beast."

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• Now get ready, because I'm going to show you what the heart really is. Look in verse 34. "And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine what? Understanding returned unto me." I thought it was his heart that was changed. Well, it was. Because the heart is the understanding. Skip down to verse 36, he says it a different way: "At the same time, my reason returned unto me." So what is the heart? The heart is the mind. The heart is the understanding. So when God is saying, "Keep thy heart with all diligence," He is saying, "Keep your mind, keep your understanding, keep your reasoning ability." When God says in Proverbs 4:23, "Keep thy heart," the word "heart" in the Hebrew is the word "leb," L-E-B. It is translated in our Bibles "mind" 11 times and "understanding" 20 times. I can take you all through the Bible and show you over and over where the mind is the understanding. In fact, turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Acts chapter 24.

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• Acts chapter 24. Let me ask that you look, please, at verse 16, just so I can explain another word. Acts 24:16. Look at this. Acts 24:16. The Apostle Paul says, "And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men." Now, the apostle Paul said, "I exercise myself to make sure that I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men." Well, what is your conscience? How can you have a conscience void of offense? Well, the Greek word for conscience is the word "syneidesis."

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• "Syn" is a preposition which means "with," "eidesis" means "to know." Your conscience is that which you know with. You take the English word "conscience." "Con" is a preposition which means "with," "science" means "to know." Your conscience is that which you know with. What's your conscience? It's your mind. It's your understanding. Someone says, "Well, I know what the conscience is. The conscience is that little thing that when you do something wrong, you shouldn't do that." Well, you know why? Because you know better. You have understanding. It's your mind. See, I could take you all through the Bible and show you the same thing.

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• For instance, look in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 9. Look how beautifully this works out. 1 Corinthians 2:9. The Word of God says, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him." Literally it says this: "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the mind or the understanding of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him." God says you can't see it, you can't hear it, and you can't comprehend it in your finite mind. So the heart is the mind. Now, when God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence," what He is saying is, "Keep your mind, keep your understanding. Do not let these things run wild. You're to guard them and set double guards around them, bring them into conformity to the word of God."

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• Now, I want you to understand. I want you to understand that you can take the Word of God, and run down the word "mind," and you would be absolutely amazed at what the Bible says about the mind. Let me just quote some verses for you. I'm going to show you a couple of them. But do you realize the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:1 that we're to arm ourselves with the mind of Jesus Christ? The Bible says in Ephesians 4:23, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." How about this one?

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• Romans 12:1-2: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

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• Now listen, "And be not conformed to this world." And the word "conformed" means to be pressed into a mold. "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed." Someone tell me how? "By the renewing of your mind." And by the way, our English word "transformed" is from this Greek word. It literally means "be metamorphosized," to go through changes just like a butterfly. So God says, "Be not conformed to this world." Don't be pressed in the mold of this world. How do we stay out of the mold of the world? By renewing our minds. Do you know the Bible says this in Philippians 2:5? "Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus."

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. 2 Corinthians 10:4. Let me show you a very important verse. I'll explain why. 2 Corinthians 10:4. The Apostle Paul says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

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• Now let me stop there. I've heard Christians take this verse and try to say, "See, Christians are not supposed to own weapons, they're not supposed to own guns." That's the most ridiculous thing. You've got to understand the Apostle Paul is using in verse 4 a military illustration. And all he is saying is this: that physical weapons like guns and knives are insufficient for the war that we're waging, for the battle that we're fighting in this context. Now, watch this. He says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." What is your stronghold? Your stronghold is your place of defense.

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• If someone came through that door with a .357 Magnum pistol and started shooting, guess what? I'm going to dive behind this pulpit.

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• Now that's not much cover, but it's better than just standing here being exposed. You see what I'm saying? This pulpit then would be my place of defense. It would be my stronghold. Now watch this. Look what he says. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

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• Now here it is, "Casting down imaginations." What is our stronghold? It's our mind. "Casting down imaginations and every high thing or every high thought that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ." Now, here's my question. How many unbiblical thoughts are you and I allowed? None. What is our stronghold? You know, it's our mind. Isn't it amazing that we always like our suggestions and our ideas better than anyone else's?

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• You can tell someone what the Bible says and they'll respond, "But I think" or "In my opinion" or "The way I see it." You follow me? They're hiding behind their stronghold. They don't want to submit to the Word of God. Literally, he says, "Casting down imaginations." Look now, "And every high thing or every high thought that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

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• Now, let's ask a question. Why are there so many passages in the Bible concerning the mind? And the answer is simple: whoever controls the mind, controls the body. What do you think all the TV advertising is about? The subliminal messages? The politically correct propaganda? Whoever controls the mind, controls the body. When the Apostle Paul says, "For the weapons of our warfare in this battle are not carnal," do you realize, Doc could come up and stick a 9mm to my temple and say, "Now, Brother Weaver, you think this way or else."

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• How does he know how I'm thinking? That weapon's not going to make me think the way he wants me to think. It's absolutely useless. It's worthless. We must learn, says our Lord, to submit our minds to the Word of God.

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• Now, you go in the average church, and there's fights, there's fussing, there's division. You know, I don't want to just stop and praise the Lord. You know, we haven't had any of that in this assembly. You say, "Well, there's not enough of us to fight." I've got news for you. Two's enough. And sometimes I even disagree with myself. But, you know, it's almost unbelievable that we've been here nearly 15 years and never had a fight. Isn't that amazing?

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• Now, let me show you. Let me show you how important it is to submit our minds to the Word of God. Let's suppose that we agree that we're going to build us a new building to meet in. I said, "All right, men, you be out here tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock. You bring your materials, you bring your work tools. We'll build us a building." Well, Roy comes with bricks. Tony comes with concrete blocks. Doc comes with pine siding. Maybe George comes up with just scrap wood. And we just all get out there and start building, doing our thing. And Doc's working on one part, and Loretta says, "Well, you know, I think a bay window would look good right here." And he said, "Well, bless God, I'll just put it in."

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• I mean, it doesn't matter. And it says, "George, I think we ought to have a portal over there." "Well, I'll put that in, too."

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• Now, let me ask you, if the building ever met, what kind of building would we have? A monstrosity. But if we had a foundation laid and we had an architect draw up plans, I could give everyone a copy of those plans. Everybody could start on a different corner of the building or different area and start working. And if they worked according to the plan, guess what? It will meet perfectly. Do you realize that God has given us a plan for our lives? He's given us a blueprint. And as long as we submit to the Word of God, you're not going to have any problems.

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• I don't care if we're talking about abortion. I don't care if we're talking about sodomy. I don't care if we're talking about politically correct speech. I don't care if we're talking about government, marriage, family, discipline. If we submit to the Word of God, guess what? We're going to come up with exactly the same thing. We're not going to be different. And the reason most of us are different is because we don't study the Word of God. And we come up with our own stronghold with, "I think," or "In my opinion," or "I believe," or "Let me show you," rather than the truth of God. So when God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence," He's literally saying, "You keep your mind, you keep your thoughts."

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• Now, let's go to the second part. Watch this. God says, "Keep your heart with all diligence." The second point is a personal responsibility. You keep your heart. Listen, if your heart is your understanding, if it's your thoughts, if it's your reasoning ability, then you're the one responsible to keep it. There's no pastor that can keep your mind. There's no deacon that can keep your mind. There's no committee that can keep your understanding. God has given you your understanding. He's given you your mind and you are responsible to keep it.

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• Now, let me show you how important this is. I know I've preached this truth before. I don't know if you remember it or not. But to demonstrate to you your responsibility in keeping your mind, may I point out the fact again that there's no such thing as a sudden sin.

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• Now stop and think about that. You think about everything before you do it. I've had men tell me, "Well, Brother Weaver, I didn't mean to run off with that woman, it just happened." That's a bunch of hogwash, folks. He thought about it and she thought about it a long time before they ever did it. "Well, I didn't mean to steal, the money was just there." No, you thought about it before you ever did it.

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• There's no such thing as a sudden sin. When God says, "Keep your mind," when God says, "Keep your heart," He's saying our thoughts, our mind are to be brought into conformity to the word of God. Let me demonstrate something. Do you realize thoughts can go through your mind as quickly as lightning can flash? Now, let me tell you, it is not a sin for a thought to go through your mind.

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• You have no control over that. The sin comes when you back the thought up and say, "Yeah, I'd like that." And you dwell upon it. You've heard the old saying, "You can't stop birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair." The devil and the flesh and the world can throw thoughts in your mind just as quickly as anything. I don't care if they're blasphemous thoughts, lustful thoughts, wicked thoughts. But they're there. The sin is not in them passing through.

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• It's when you stop. I tell people, used to when I was a boy, and God knows, and I'm thankful He protected me, I've never been in one in my life. But I do know this for a fact, because some friends of mine went when I was a boy. But when I was a boy, you had to pay to go to a burlesque show. Today, all you have to do is stop at a red light.

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• You don't have control in your mind, control in your thoughts. That mind can have that thought instantaneously. But what you must do is this: "Lord, I refuse that in the name of Jesus Christ. I will not have that in my mind. I will not think about that. I will not hold it in my mind."

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• Now, let me show you how important this is. Someone tell me what I have in my hand. What is that? Pocket knife. What color is it? Black or brown. Okay. Now, tell me what you see and what color is it? Now, here's the thing. While you were thinking about the pocket knife, you were not thinking about the Bible. When you were thinking about the Bible, you were not thinking about the pocket knife. No matter how hard you try, you can't think about two things at the same time. Just one thing.

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• So when that thought that's evil and wicked comes through your mind, you have to say, "Lord, I refuse it. I am not going to think about it." Then you purposefully and deliberately put your mind upon Christ or scripture or as the Apostle Paul says, "Whatsoever things are lovely, honest, virtuous, praiseworthy, think on these things." You say, "Well, what if the thought comes back five minutes later?" Do it again. "What if it comes back three minutes later?" Do it again. Then you will understand Isaiah 26, where God says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee." So you can learn to have the mind of Christ.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 15. I want to show you that you are responsible to keep certain things out of your mind. Look in your Bibles, Matthew chapter 15. Look at what our Lord says, beginning there in verse 16. Matthew 15:16. Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he says, "Are you also yet without understanding? Do not you yet understand that whatsoever enters into the mouth, goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught?" Now, look what he says. "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man." And notice what is the very first thing that comes forth from the heart. "For out of the heart proceed what?"

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• "Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man." No, he says, "For out of the heart proceed," and every one of these things are mental sins first. Even our Lord is telling us that our heart is our mind. So God is telling us there's certain things that we're to keep out of our minds.

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• That's why you should never watch anything pornographic. That's why you should never watch the soap operas, you know, which teach nothing but adultery and infidelity and everything else. "Here Comes Mary, Goodbye John, The Doctors, Kiss My Foot," you know, all of those. Every one of them. Every one of them. I had the news on, not so long ago, and that's about all I watch on TV is the news, but I had the news on. And here was an advertisement on a soap opera.

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• And here were two men and showed a woman, and they were wanting everybody to vote on who was going to be the daddy of the baby. I thought, "Who gives a royal flip?" Who's going to say, well, I know men are as bad as women, but some of them sit there and watch that trash over and over and over. We're responsible to keep certain things out of our minds. Keep your heart with all diligence, keep your mind.

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• I want you to turn in your Bible to the book of Jude. I want you to see that you're responsible to keep certain things in your mind. The book of Jude. Notice, if you would please, verse 20. Right before the book of Revelation, Jude, verse 20. Look at what he says. "But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost." Now look at verse 21. "Keep yourselves in the love of God."

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• "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." "Keep yourselves in the love of God." Hmm. How do you do that? Well, let me tell you something, folks, if the love of God is some little abstract thing floating around somewhere in the universe, we're in trouble. How do you keep yourself in some abstract thing floating around somewhere? But if you will turn back in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 5, I want to show you what the love of God really is. You can understand and how to keep yourself in the love of God. 1 John 5:2. He says, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments." Watch. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous." What is the love of God? Keeping his commandments. How do I keep myself in the love of God? I keep myself under obedience to his word. I keep myself in obedience to his law.

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• You see what I'm saying? The devil, the flesh, the world could throw a thought in my mind. "Well, that's a beautiful woman over there. You ought to go over there and see if you could hit on her." Oh, you know what I'm going to say? "I'm not going to do that. That's wicked. That's a violation of the law of God. God says, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' God said, 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, or his daughter, or his child, or his manservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is my neighbor's.'" You see what I've got to do? I've got to put the wicked thought out of my mind and keep God's law in my mind. That's my responsibility. That's your responsibility.

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• Now, I want you to turn to two passages. I want to try to clear this up for you. I want you to turn to Proverbs 16 and Hosea chapter 10. Hosea chapter 10, Daniel and Hosea. Right after the book of Daniel, you have the book of Hosea. Find the book of Proverbs first. And then we're going to go to the book of Hosea, OK? Book of Proverbs chapter 16. And notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 1, Proverbs 16:1. Notice what the word of God says. Proverbs 16:1, "The preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." Now I only want to deal with half that verse, "The preparations of the heart in man is from the Lord." Do you realize if your heart is ever prepared to pray, God prepared it. If your heart is ever prepared to study, God prepared it. If your heart is ever prepared to come to Christ, God prepared it. The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord.

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• That's a biblical fact. Now, look in your Bibles to the book of Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12. Look at what the scripture says. Here God admonishes us to "sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you."

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• Now you say, "Wait a minute, Brother Weaver, there's a contradiction. Proverbs 16:1 says the preparation of the heart in man is from the Lord. And now God tells me to sow to myself in mercy that I might reap in mercy and break up my fallow ground. It's time to seek the Lord." There is no contradiction. Now, listen carefully. Proverbs 16:1 talks about ability. Hosea 10:12 talks about responsibility. God only has the ability to prepare our hearts, but we have the responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts. Now, look in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs, chapter 23. Let me show you how beautifully the Proverbs puts it for you. Proverbs, chapter 23. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. Proverbs 23:12. Notice what the Word of God says. Proverbs 23:12, "Apply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears unto the words of knowledge." Now, let me use the word "govern."

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• You'll see why in just a moment. Verse 12 literally says, "Govern thine heart unto instruction and thine ears to the words of knowledge." Now look in verse 19. "Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way." So now God has told you to govern your heart and to guide your heart. How do you govern it? How do you guide it? Look down, if you would, verse 26. He says, "My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." The only way we can govern and guide our hearts is by giving them to Christ and seeking Him to prepare our hearts so that we will serve Him effectively and effectually.

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• It is God's work, but man's agency. In other words, our obedience is His instrumentality.

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• Now, let's go in our Bibles to the book of Hebrews 3. I'm just showing you now our responsibility to keep our hearts. Look in Hebrews 3:12. Hebrews chapter 3, notice, if you would please, verse 12. You talk about a powerful verse. And the author of the book of Hebrews says, "Take heed, brethren." So he's writing believers, he's writing Christians. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God."

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• Now, boy, there's a sermon. How can there be an evil heart of unbelief in a Christian that would enable him to depart from the living God? The answer is very simple. A failure to keep the heart. Every departure does not mean a total departure, but it certainly could be a partial departure. It can be a departure from the law of God. It can be a departure from the will of God. It can be a departure from the Word of God. It's still a departure. But he said, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." Now, the reason I read this verse is to show you that if we depart from the word of God or the law of God or God, it is our sin, it is our responsibility.

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• But you know what we have developed to a fine art in this country and in Christendom particularly? We have developed into a fine art what is commonly known as blame shifting. Do you remember when Adam and Eve had sinned? God said, "Adam, what hast thou done?" "It is the wife whom thou gavest to be with me. It's her fault, Lord." See, dog, that's a good reason to get married. You can blame everything on your wife. See? Okay? It's her fault. "Eve, what have you done?"

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• "Oh, it was the serpent. He beguiled me, and I didn't even know it. It's not my fault, Lord. It's the serpent."

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• Now, here's what really happened. Adam said, "Lord, it's not my fault. It's Eve's. Indirectly, Lord, it's your fault. For had you not given me the woman, it would not have happened." "Eve, what have you done?" "Oh, Lord, it was the serpent. It's not really my fault, but Lord, indirectly, it's your fault for had you not created the serpent." See? Isn't it amazing? When our children do wrong, it's always the crowd they hang around with that's fault. It's never the depraved, wicked heart of our own children. Isn't it amazing? Then when something goes wrong in our lives or in our homes, it's always someone else's fault. The three hardest words for anyone to say are these: "I am wrong" or "I have sinned."

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• We want to blame shift. Now, let me try to demonstrate the responsibility to keep our heart. Let's suppose Dr. Holmes stood up and cussed me out today. Every one of you in here hearing, you are my witnesses. He cussed me up one side and down the other. He did it publicly and openly. Now, here's my question. Because he has sinned and because he has done wrong,

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• does that give me the right to cuss him back? In other words, I've got to do right, even if he does wrong. Or he could lie about me. Does that mean I have the right to lie about him? No. I've got to do what's right even if he does what's wrong. Isn't it amazing? I've been in church after church after church and I've had people who would never ever come back to those churches because they got mad. They got upset. They got angry with someone in the church.

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• Let me tell you something, folks. If you ever leave angry, if you ever leave upset and mad, it's your sin. It's your sin. Because you have a responsibility to keep your heart regardless of what anyone else does. You follow that? You can't blame it on anyone else. I had a man come to church in Jessup, and those who will be there next Sunday will see what I'm talking about. The church building is unique.

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• When you walk in the entrance, there's a little hall that you come in, which means there's little cubbyholes on the other side of the little entranceway, and there are pews back there. I had a man come into church one time as I was preaching. I had just started preaching. He came in late. He went right around into that little cubby hole and sat in the last pew in the corner. After I got through preaching and dismissed, everyone was shaking hands and talking, that man still sat in that corner. Never got up. Everybody went out except him. I watched him. So, I was the last one out. I went back there. He said, "Brother Weaver, I just want you to know that I'm never coming back to this church again."

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• I said, "Would you mind telling me why?" He said, "Because the people here are unfriendly. No one shook my hand." I said, "Sir, I want to tell you something. I said, I saw you come in late. No one else saw you come in because service had already started. I said, secondly, you sat in that corner and hid. No one saw you. I said, thirdly, the Bible says he who has friends must show himself friendly. I said, did you offer to shake anybody's hand? Did you offer to speak to anybody?"

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• I said, "No, you did not. You stayed in that corner. I watched you. I said, fourthly, if the only reason you came was to shake somebody's hand, I said, you come back next Sunday, and I'll pin a mule tail to that wall out there, and you can stand there and shake it the whole time I preach! I said, sir, the sin does not belong to this church, it belongs to you."

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• "And you're not going to put a guilt trip on me. If you never come back, that's your problem, not mine." Isn't that the truth? Well, of course, it's the truth. You're responsible to keep your heart.

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• Now, let me show you two passages. I want you to look in Proverbs, chapter 25. Here are two very important verses. I would encourage you to memorize and make sure you underline. Make sure you know where these two verses are. Look at what the Bible says. Proverbs 25:28. First, Proverbs 25:28. God says, "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls." He who hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. Why in the world did a city have walls? To protect itself. Why in the world should you be able to control your spirit, your mind, your understanding? To protect yourself. If a city has no walls, you can walk in and get what you want and walk out. If you have no control over your spirit, anyone can manipulate you and control you. Now, let me tell you something that's very important. I want you to understand this.

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• I cannot make you mad unless you allow me to make you mad. I can't upset you unless you allow me to upset you. I can't make you bitter, envious, or jealous unless you allow me to do that. If you can control your spirit, there's nothing I can do to you. You can come up and spit in my face and cuss me out, but as long as I have control over my spirit, you cannot make me do anything wrong and wicked.

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• Now, look at what he says in Proverbs 16:32. Proverbs 16:32. Watch carefully. God says, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." God said the man that can control himself is more powerful than the greatest warrior on earth. You are responsible to keep your heart. You are responsible to keep out that which is wicked and wrong, and you are responsible to keep in that which is right and holy and godly.

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• Now, very quickly, let me try to tie it together. Here's the third point. The Word of God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence." Why? "For out of it are the issues of life."

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• Thirdly, is the explanatory reason. Here is why God tells you, you must keep your heart. "For out of it are the issues of life." The word "issues" is the word "totsa'oth" in the Hebrew. It is translated in our Bibles "going forth" one time, "going out" eleven times, "issue" two times, and "outgoing" seven times. So literally it says, "For out of it is the going forth or the going out of the heart."

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• Help me out with this verse. Many of you can quote it. The Bible says in Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

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• Now, what is he saying? You are ultimately going to be and do what you think.

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• Now, let me hit this very plainly. Without knowledge, we're helpless. Hosea 4:6, God says, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." John 8:32, Our Lord said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." If you don't know the truth, what are you? Slaves. Only the truth is going to set you free. Now, without knowledge, man is helpless. If you don't believe that, let me put you in a helicopter and drop you right in the middle of Okefenokee Swamp, and let me see you get out without knowledge. You might jump over a few rattlesnakes, moccasins and alligators if the bears don't get you. Or the quicksand. But if you don't know how to survive, you're gone.

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• Now, have you ever stopped to think about this, folks? A problem is not a problem if you know what to do. You only have problems when you don't know what to do. A lack of knowledge that causes us to perish. Now, follow this through. You do what you do because you think the way you think. You act the way you act because you think the way you think.

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• "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Why is it people take dope and I don't even want an aspirin in my body? Why would people shoot dope in their arms or wherever they shoot it? Why would they do that? Because they think that all those who died of an overdose before them were stupid. All those who became vegetables were stupid. They didn't know how to do it. But I want to do it right.

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• I'm going to have this grand and glorious experience. Do you realize? The reason people do what they do is because they think the way they think. I'm going to have to be mighty bad off before I take anything. Because I don't want anything in my body that's not supposed to be there. Why am I like that? Because I think the way I think. Now, I want to show you something. I want you to turn in your Bibles back to Proverbs 4 and then we'll go to Acts chapter 8. Watch this carefully. I want to show you, you do what you do because you think the way you think. Look in Proverbs 4:23, God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life." Now, if you keep your heart, watch verse 24, you will put away from you a froward mouth and perverse lips you will put far from you. If you keep your heart, your eyes will look right on, and your eyelids will look straight before you.

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• If you keep your heart, you'll ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. If you keep your heart, you'll turn not to the right hand nor to the left. You'll remove your foot from evil. Now, if you don't keep your heart, it's just the opposite.

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• Now, let me make a statement as you turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 8. Here is my statement. I can tell you what is in your heart. I can read your heart. You said, "Brother Weaver, don't say that. You know, that's not right." Yes, it is right. I can read your heart. You said, "Brother Weaver, the Bible says only God knows the heart." No, the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible does say that God looketh upon the heart, but man looketh upon the outward appearance. And I will confess that only God knows the heart perfectly. But that does not mean that only God can know the heart. Because I'm going to show you a passage where someone read another man's heart. Look at Acts chapter 8, beginning there in verse 17. Here was a man by the name of Simon the sorcerer.

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• He made a profession of faith, but he was never a genuine convert. He was never genuinely saved. He even got baptized, but he was not saved. He even joined with the disciples, but he was not saved. Look in verse 17. "Then laid they their hands on them," that is, the apostles. They came down from Jerusalem. "Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."

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• "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." Now, wait a minute. Peter said in verse 21, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thine heart is not right in the sight of God." Oh, Peter, how can you say that? Only God knows the heart. How can you tell that man his heart is not right? Peter said, "Don't hand me that trash. I know his heart is not right by what he said and what he tried to do." In fact, when Peter says in verse 20, "Thy money perish with thee,"

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• I want to give you a good South Georgia interpretation. The Greek word is a very, very strong word. Here's literally what it means: "Your money go to hell with you, Simon. That's exactly where you're going. And you can take your money with you." Look what he says. "Because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." Now watch verse 21. "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter," that is in Christianity, "for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." How can I tell you what's in your heart? By listening to you? By watching you? By talking to you? For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Have you ever noticed in the Bible that whenever a good king died, you would always find this comment, "For his heart was right with God, as was David his father's." How do they know the king's heart was right with God?

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• By the way he lived, by the way he ruled. When a wicked king dies, you always find this, "For his heart was not right with God, as was David his father's." How do they know his heart was not right? By the way he lived, by the way he ruled. You see, when God says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence," He's essentially saying this: you better keep it. For out of it are the issues of life.

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• You actually become and you actually do what you think and what you believe. Let me summarize it like this. If you think biblically, you will act biblically. If you think humanistically and wickedly, you will act humanistically and wickedly. It's that simple.

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• Now, just a couple of illustrations and applications. The first one is this. Keeping the heart is an absolute requirement for learning more truth. I'm not going to take time to go over Mark 4:24-25. You can do that later. But let me tell you something, folks. God is not going to give us more truth until we're obedient to the truth that He's already given us. The second one is this. Do you realize that keeping the heart is one of the great evidences that we're genuine Christians and not Pharisees and not hypocrites.

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• What is a hypocrite interested in? What is the Pharisee interested in? Well, you remember what our Lord said about them. He said, "Woe unto you, Pharisees, hypocrites." He says, "You're like unto whited sepulchers, but on the inside, you're full of dead men's bones." What's a hypocrite and a Pharisee? He's someone that will put on a front, beautiful on the outside, but rotten on the inside. The true child of God wants to be holy and wants to be pure and wants to be godly even when no one else is around. I can't just say, "Well, I'm not going to look at pretty women just when my wife's next to me. But if she's not next to me, well, I'm going to get my eyes full." I can't do that. Whether she's next to me or not is immaterial. I want to do what's right and be holy and godly because God is always here. You follow that?

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• The third application is this. Unless we keep our hearts, we will never, ever be able to discharge even the most fundamental duties of Christian life. While I do not agree with Dwight L. Moody on a lot of things, I do agree with him on one thing. He had written in the flyleaf of his Bible, "Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book." And have you ever noticed when you're not right with God, you don't want to read the Bible. You don't want to come hear preaching. You know why? Because you know it's going to condemn you. You know you're wrong. You won't study, you won't attend the preaching of the Word of God if your heart is not right with God. You won't even pray.

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• What did David say in Psalm 66:18? "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." What did he say in 1 John 3? "Beloved, if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things." How could I go to the Lord with a special request asking for blessing if I know that I've stolen from Brother Ernie and refused to make restitution? How could I ask God's blessing if I know that Tony and I have had a knock-down, drag-out argument and I won't speak to him and he won't speak to me? What did our Lord say in Matthew 5? "You go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then you come back and offer the gift."

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• You follow what I'm saying? If you don't keep your heart, you cannot even perform the most fundamental basic requirements of the Christian life. You won't pray, you won't study, you won't attend church, you certainly wouldn't witness. Here you begin to start telling someone about how Christ delivers from sin, and all of a sudden your conscience says, "Look what's been in your mind for the last six months. Look what you've been keeping and dwelling on." You know about condemnation. You cannot perform the most fundamental and basic requirements of the Christian duties unless you learn to keep your heart. Now, well, the last thing is this.

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• One of the greatest helps and one of the greatest acts of evangelism is prayer. You say, "What are you talking about?" You can turn to Acts 16 and read it later, let me just tell you. You remember Lydia? The seller of purple of Thyatira was down by the women's prayer meeting at the river. The Apostle Paul came by and they asked him to preach. And the Bible says, quoting, talking about Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened" with the result that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul. Why did she listen to what Paul was saying? Because God opened her heart. What did God open? Her mind. Her understanding. God converted Lydia. Let me tell you something, folks. If the heart is the mind, if it's the understanding, only God can open it. What does the Bible say in 1 Corinthians 2:14? "For the natural man," the unsaved man, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them." Why? Because they're spiritually discerned. And I've got news for you, folks.

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• I could preach my voice gone to a bunch of lost folks, but if God doesn't open their hearts, not one would ever be converted. Not one. And if you've got family and friends that you want converted, you better learn to pray, "Lord, open their hearts. Let them see. Let them understand. Let them know your truth." "Keep thy heart with all diligence." Why? "For out of it are the issues of life." Let's pray.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask your blessing. We ask your help. Lord, make us holy. Make us godly. And the first foundational step is knowing how to keep our hearts. I ask, Father, that You would enable us to renew our minds on a daily basis, sometimes, Lord, an hourly basis, and many times even minute by minute. But may we refuse to have unholy and ungodly things in our mind and our understanding, and keep Your Word, Your principles, Your law there, and thus keep ourselves in the love of God. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T03:43:40Z