Friday, February 01, 2008

The Heart of the Matter

A few weeks ago I preached about Christianity being about a heart relationship with Jesus not a set of man made rules and regulations. View the illustration below I used. By the way I am not that creative heads up to Perry Noble of New Spring Church who I saw do this before.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Listening to the Heart of the Matter, I felt and believe God was speaking directly to me. When I returned home following the church service, I thought about the three questions raised;
- Does His Voice Matter?
- Am I all about appearance?
- Is my heart fully his?

I am guilty, ashamed, saddened (don’t really know how to express my feelings) because if I am honest, my answers to these questions are not what they should be.

Does His Voice Matter? My interpretation of this is - do I take time to read his word and more importantly, do I obey? I have been a Christian long enough to know the basics of the truth – but do I always abide and live the truth. I find myself constantly fighting a battle between by head (that knows the theory of the truth) and my heart that many a time chooses not to obey. I am now embarking on a programme to transform my Heart to be in sync with my Head – indeed isn’t that the point of studying his Word

Am I all about appearance? The illustration of the smart suite on the outside and inner rags was brilliant. Again, I felt that if I am honest with myself, I often think about what others think of me – and how I can impress. For instance I wish I knew more about the Bible for show rather than for self transformation. I even thought twice about blogging this comment because I thought to myself – am I trying to impress the audience about how modest/humble/honest I am? In the end I decided to submit my comments anonymously – that way only God know who I am.

Is my heart fully his? If I am honest not 100%. I don’t know if it will ever be but it is my desire to surrender myself completely. One of the concerns I have is just how to surrender one self to God. I want to but not sure how. I would be gratefully is you can advise in this area.

Great Sermon

Anonymous

Anonymous said...

I guess, like your first response, many of your listeners, including myself, will feel saddened by their own place spiritually. I have got to a place where I even know all the answers but seem incapable of taking any action that will bring the improvement I know I need in my own life and especially my relationship with God. If I was speaking to someone else who was in my position, I'd know exactly what to say to encourage them - I'd be able to give them the right scriptures to read - even pray with them to get them back on track! But I don't seem able (after being a Christian for 50 yrs) to spur myself to restore things. I can blame disappointment with people, circumstances, finance, rejection etc. - but know that whatever other people dish out, or whatever happens, it's still my responsibility to keep close to God. I hear the challenges week by week - indeed yesterday the one that hit was '95% commitment is 5% short'. Is 100% possible do you think?

Like the other responder, I want to be in a good place with God again but just don't seem able to do it - I know what I should do but cant raise the energy to get going again. I do talk to God so am not totally out of it - but I so remember the days when His touch and His voice was the expected 'norm' - life isn't like that now.

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