Whole Heart: Guard Your Heart

Prov 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
1. The heart is extremely valuable. We guard things that are of great value. It's our responsibility to guard our own heart.
2. Guard against an unchanged heart. Mt 15:18 My heart should continually be changed by the amazing gift of Jesus' sacrifice for me. Cry out to Jesus to change my heart.
3. Guard against an impure heart. Check my heart and make sure it's pure, if there is anything impure, I need to get rid of it. Mt 5:8. Unpure can also mean unfocused. Jas 4:4,8; Ps 24:4. Ask for a pure heart!! Ps 51:10
4. Guard against a hard heart. Don't be closed off to the things of God. Heb 3:8-9. Marinate in the Word of God (don't wait for Him to have to beat your heart to make it soft).
5. Guard against a proud heart. Prov 18:12; Lk 18:10-14.
6. Guard against a wounded heart. There's a difference between guarding your heart and a guarded heart. Don't build a fence around your heart to keep others out, to try to avoid pain - you're just fencing yourself in. You will get hurt, but we can choose to let that make us better. Ps 147:3. Keep your heart open.
7. What's in your heart will flow from you. Prov 4:23; Mt 15:18; Jn 7:37

Whole Heart: Crushed

Prov 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
If you don't get past the things that crush your heart, it weighs you down and continues to crush you. You have to learn to get rid of the baggage that holds you down.
1. You are not alone in your pain. Don't run away from God, run to Him. Ps 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
2. God cares for you in your pain. 1 Pet 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Heb 4:15-16 come before God through confidence in Jesus. Jonah 2:2, 5-6; Ps 34:8; Zeph 3:17. My Father God wants to take me as his child and hold me and let me know it's going to be okay.
3. God never wastes pain. Even as we struggle through pain, God will teach us lesson about Him and ourselves as we walk through that pain. 2 Cor 12:7-9, 1:3-4.
4. We can get past our pain. If you choose to get bitter, you will never get better. You will not be living and you will find your only friends will be other people who are bitter. We have to make a decision. Choose God, choose love, choose forgiveness, choose joy, choose life. Choose to be better with God's help. Ps 55:22; Mt 11:28;
5. Time will not heal all wounds, but all wounds require time to heal. Wounds are healed through time with the Lord. Continue to spend time with Him, and your wounds will continue to heal. Ps 30:10-12 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,  that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.  Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

Be Bold by Brandon Johnson

Mt 26:55-56, 28:19-20; Acts 4:8-13, 18-20, 29-31.
"When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure." Viktor Frankl
Solution to fulfill the great commission is boldness: boldness is the opposite of fearfulness, always referenced about sharing the Word of God.
1. Boldness comes from believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 4:10
2. Boldness comes from prayer. Acts 4:29-31. Kneeling before God will help you stand before anyone, prayerlessness will result in powerlessness. Eph 6:19-20
3. Boldness comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 4:31, Eph 5:17-18
4. Boldness comes from receiving Christ's righteousness. Prov 28:1 Be as bold as a lion. Rom 8:1, 5:17.
If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.