Crossroads Community Church

June 25, 2015 · 0 Comments

Sunday, June 7th, 2015
On this beautiful sunny morning we entered with expectant hearts to hear God’s word. Worship was refreshing and joyful. Pastor Don shared announcements and prayed,
“Dear Father God we humbly come before You and ask for your protection, keep us on the right path and keep us pure, protect our hearts from evil, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
God loves us and wants the best for us which it is why he says” Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.” Proverbs 4:23-27. We know this is God’s will but how do we achieve it? There are 5 entry ways that can harm our hearts if we don’t put boundaries and proper safeguards to keep us away from harmful habits and relationships; a “Spiritual Anti-Virus” so to speak.
Our minds, (thoughts), our mouths, our eyes, our ears and our feet can lead us into troublesome situations. Our minds will directly impact our hearts, the more we fill our minds with wrong thoughts the more we put our hearts at risk of doing what is wrong,(Matthew 15:19).Our mouths as we can all attest can easily put us into hot water, we can wound with words deeper and longer than any other method, taming the tongue is the most difficult for any of us, it is easier to tame a lion than the tongue, (James 3:7-8). Our speech has the potential to corrupt our own hearts, the more we speak negatively about ourselves or others like slandering and gossip it becomes part of who we are, (1 Corinthians 15:33). Our eyes can easily fool us, look at Eve, just one look is all it took, she looked at what was forbidden and her heart was deceived into sin. To lust after something will lead us into sin, for our eyes have the power to convince us of either good or bad doing, (Genesis 3:6). Our ears can lead us to sin, flattery and deception is all around, and it enthralls many hearts, the more we listen the more we start believing whether it is right or wrong. Our Feet or Actions also corrupt our hearts. When we stray away from the safe path God has laid ahead of us we get entangled with the wrong people and start behaving like them, like our Mothers have said, “Show me who your friends are; and I will tell you where you’re heading”, (1John 2:16).
With so many ways through which evil can attack our hearts, how do we stay on the right path? How do we faithfully follow the way, the truth and the life? First and foremost we need the Lord’s Spirit to search our hearts, and reveal anything that isn’t right or pleasing to him and we need His power to stand against evil so we will not offend Him or anyone else, (Psalms 139:23-24). We need His love to fill us so we can love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, (Mark 12:30). We need His word to guide us and teach us so we can walk closely to Him, (Joshua 23:6-8). We need His grace to keep our focus on the straight and narrow path and His mercy when we fail so we get back on track, this way many will hear and see and put their trust in the Lord, (Hebrews 12:13). We definitely need to listen to God’s wisdom so we may discern what is right and wholesome, (Proverbs 5:1).
Beloved, with Christ all is possible. If we humbly ask Him he will empower us to walk blamelessly so others will know that He is the reason we do what we do. Knowing Jesus and giving him our hearts will safeguard our faith as a powerful testimony to those who are lonely and hurting, (Philippians 3:1). The heart is the most comprehensive term for authenticity and it is the means through which God communicates with us so when we treasure Jesus in our hearts we will undoubtedly produce a treasury of good, (Matthew 12:35). Jesus wants us to go into the entire world and preach the Good News and with His love we will do it from the heart. And finally as Paul writes “Dear brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” So this week when temptation comes our way let us keep our minds fixed on Jesus our Lord, Asherey Shalom!