“A Guarded Heart!” Sunday, 05 June 2022 10:00 a.m.
We are continuing with our series entitled: “The Armour of God”. Last Sunday we spoke about the belt of truth. And this Sunday we are moving on to another important weapon of warfare…the breastplate of righteousness.
Ephesians 6: 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness…..
The breastplate protects the vital organs, most importantly our heart. It's extremely important that we protect our heart; that is our mind, emotions and our will. Solomon, in the book of Proverbs puts it like this: Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
So how are we going to do that? How are we going to guard our hearts? By putting on the breastplate of righteousness… that is, being in the right relationship towards God. We want to be righteous in all that we do. We want to be in right standing before God and so we have to keep our heart in a place of purity and confidence towards Him. It has a lot to do with your eyes. Your eyes are tied to your heart / soul.
If you want to have a glowing heart that everyone can see then you need to have healthy/good eyes. That is, eyes that long to please God; to look at things that are pure and good and when you do that your whole body will be full of light, spiritually speaking. But if your eye looks upon things that are evil, dark and perverse then your whole body will be full of darkness.
To not control your eyes is to take off the breastplate of righteousness and to expose your heart. Samson was a man called by God; he had a tremendous destiny and purpose as a judge over Israel. But he failed to control his eyes; he gave away his heart and it became dark. The first thing you read about Samson is this:
Judges 14:1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
He desired that woman, because she pleased his eye…. and this became a trend in his life that became a continual source of trouble. Eventually, he became so blind to his weaknesses, that his enemies would capture him, and then physically blind him and bind him and set him to work grinding in a prison. And such is the plan and agenda of the enemy.
And that is why it is so important to guard your heart from the desires and enticements of the world.
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “a Guarded Heart.”
Blessings,
Kevin
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