Let me add my word of thanks for
your kindness.
You guys are so good to us, and
it's wonderful to be in the family of
God together.
And one of the things we've experienced over
the years as part of the congregation here
is just the sense of belonging and the
love of God that you have as a
family.
And it's marvelous, you know, to come and
to worship together.
It's good to praise the Lord, is it
not?
And I was listening a little bit as
you were singing forth his praises, and I
was thinking about Jesus.
And you know, the same Jesus that we
lift up this morning is worshipped all around
the world.
And I'm happy this morning we have two
guests from Liberia.
Two brothers sitting here in the middle, and
I'm mentioning it because I hope you'll take
opportunity to say hello to them.
It's good to welcome John from Kenya, and
he's from east side of Africa, and these
two men are originally from the west side
of Africa.
Sharif, here sitting closest to Michael Timchak, is
a refugee, and his wife and six children
are in a refugee camp in Sierra Leone.
And so we could certainly pray for him,
and I know he would appreciate that.
He's a friend of a friend of mine
in Ontario, and so that's how we kind
of got hooked up.
And it's great to have you both in
the service this morning.
Aby is here in Regina, and he's been
here six years, so he knows all about
the weather.
A very warm welcome to you both in
this new year.
And as we think about our new year
and setting the course for 2010, you think
about the task that God has assigned us
to, to reach people with his love and
with his goodness and with his grace.
And, you know, I want to just take
us to one verse this morning in Proverbs
chapter 4 and verse 23, and we'll spend
a few moments just thinking about one verse.
It isn't very often that we do only
one verse.
But it's a good verse.
It's an excellent verse as we think upon
this new year.
Do you ever make New Year's resolutions?
I think many are the years that I
have resolved I shall lose weight.
Brad says give up.
So anyway, I think we do that from
time to time, and if you're like me,
you can end up being disappointed also in
some of the things that we resolve to
do, and we never kind of quite make
it.
So I thought this time we would take
just a look at the heart.
What will God do this year?
And the issue is always an issue of
the heart.
And if you just keep your finger there
in Proverbs 4 and slip over to Proverbs
23 in verse 7, it says something significant
about the heart.
Think I have it wrong?
No, we're okay.
He is the kind of man who is
always thinking about the cost.
Eat and drink, he says to you, but
his heart is not with you.
There's all kinds of things that can be
in the heart, and when the heart is
not right, you get all kinds of tugs.
Do this, do that.
This will make you happy.
This will give you what you're really looking
for, but you know the issue is the
heart, your heart and mine.
And so let's read our verse this morning
in Proverbs 4 and 23.
Here's what it says.
Above all else, guard your heart, for it
is the wellspring of life.
Above all else, guard your heart, for it
is the wellspring of life.
Now here's a good piece of scripture for
us to start 2010 with.
As you think about this year and its
opportunities and its challenges and all of those
things, where do you get the truth?
Where do you get that foundation that you
can actually stand on and trust in fully?
And here you know scripture gives us clear
instruction as we start off this year.
Above all else.
Well, if you put something above all else,
where is it?
It's an absolute priority for life.
So what you set above all else is
that which counts more than any other thing
in your life and in your heart.
And so as you think with me this
morning about this guarding of the heart, what
is it talking about?
Well, you know, the scripture tells us there
are many, many things about the heart.
You can look in Concordance and it's just
such a big list of verses where heart
is mentioned.
But you know, before conversion, before we come
to know the Lord Jesus as our Savior,
it tells us in Jeremiah 17, 9 that
the heart is deceitful above all things and
dreadfully wicked.
Who can know it?
What an interesting verse that is.
That says that we can't even know our
own heart.
And we've certainly seen that, have we not?
People change.
They bounce around according to the wind that
blows and so on because we need an
anchor in the heart that keeps us in
that secure place, in that honest place of
integrity before God.
Before conversion, our flesh holds sway in our
heart.
You know what I mean by that?
Oh, that looks so good.
I think I'll get that.
Oh, wait a minute.
That's a better model and that's cheaper.
I'll get that one.
And it's all about me and my and
the things that I want and desire.
The heart, you know, can be full of
envy as well.
In Psalm 37, 1 and 2, it says
don't be envious of the wicked.
Don't be envious.
Well, you can be envious of all kinds
of things.
If only I had that, I'd be so
happy.
Hmm.
Now, answer that question for me this morning.
If only I had, I'd be so happy.
What do you think it would be?
Sharon says Jesus.
That's a good answer.
Yeah.
But, you know, we sometimes find those things
that pull at us.
If only I had this or that.
The heart.
It's about the heart.
And scripture gives us this clear instruction to
guard the heart above everything else.
Did you see when we come to know
the Lord Jesus, he comes to reside in
the human heart.
And he comes to sit there as upon
his throne.
He is the sovereign Lord, Dan, of our
lives.
He is the supreme king of each one
who has trusted in him.
And that leads us to a place where
we want to pay close attention to what
the king of kings and Lord of Lords
says.
Rather than having all of those things in
our heart that tug us here and there
and somewhere else.
To be centered this year on the king.
On Jesus.
On his word.
Because his word will not guide you wrongly.
It will guide you in the right path.
And it will show you the way to
all kinds of wonderful blessings.
We want to pay close attention to his
word if we're going to guard our hearts.
You see, when we are ready to get
up in arms about something and say, it's
mine.
If we're guarding the heart, we're really going
to come to say, it's his.
And he is mine.
What would happen to all the arguments and
all the struggles and so on if we
let go of all those things that hold
on to us and just hold on to
Jesus?
Guard your heart above all things, scripture says.
We'd spend that time in prayer.
Seeking him and knowing him.
Guarding the heart against outside influences and things
that want to pull us here and there.