RESET JESUS RESET MY HEART Key Verse: PSALM 24:3-4 WELCOME TO THE first installment of our new series, Reset: Jesus Changes Everything, a four-week series that promises to do just that... to reset whatever it is in our lives that is not functioning optimally. To reset something is to restore it to its original design, its original purpose, its original intent. It is literally to set again. To reestablish. To reengage. To rearrange, reorganize, or retune such that when you play the note C, for example, it actually sounds like C. We reset something back to how it was supposed to be all along. RESET Your computer When your marriage dissolves into a series of misses and misunderstandings, it needs an infusion of effective communication, of creativity, of quality time, and of enthusiasm. It needs to be reset. (FAMILY LIFE, CREATE A REGULAR DATE NIGHT) Relationship (parents, friends, siblings) When things at work tend to fail,.. your productivity has slipped, problems with client issues,. It needs to be reset. We can all relate to these types of resets, these common, everyday needs to have our connections reestablished, our systems restructured, and our relationships retooled. And we know that these can be powerful, even life-changing interventions. But there is a type of RESET THAT IS MORE POWERFUL, MORE LIFE-CHANGING AS THESE THINGS there are times when we need more of a TOTAL AND COMPLETE RESET OF OUR SOUL/LIFE/FAITH. Last week I introduced 4 key RESETS that we will be looking at that promise to reinvigorate the core of who we are: 1. [Today, Week 1] Jesus, reset my heart. This is the resetting of our faith, where all other resets begin. (We ll talk more about this idea here in a moment.) 2. [Week 2] Jesus, reset my mind. The resetting of our thoughts, the center of our belief. 3. [Week 3] Jesus, reset my voice. The resetting of our words, what we say, why we say it... and, more specifically, how often we seize opportunities to talk about God. 4. [Week 4] Jesus, reset my hands. The resetting of our work, the motivations for what we do, as well as the mechanics. 1
JESUS RESET MY HEART WHY THE HEART? THE HEART IS CENTRAL. WE THINK FROM OUR MINDS BUT LIVE FROM OUR HEARTS Love the Lord God with all of your HEART. Deut 6:5 Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. Luke 12:34 Man looks at the outward but God looks at the heart. 1 Sam 16:7 Hearts that we believe and are justified: Rom 10:10 above all things guard your hearts wellspring of life Prov 4:23 WHY DO WE NEED A HEART RESET? Because life has a tendency to cause us to LOSE HEART when we lose heart lose desire LOSE JOY - lose our capability to love lose our compassion FOR OTHERS lose our passion for LIFE -- for God. STORY OF TIN-MAN (WIZARD OF OZ) Seen Wizard of Oz Dorothy and scarecrow heading for Oz yellow brick road come upon TIN-MAN (standing there rusted) but we are not told the full story of how he got there movie leaves out (read book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum) Story of a real man love with a beautiful maiden dream to marry here and live happily ever after. Wicked Witch (hates love) want to foil that dream cast spell and cause him to lose his limbs has to have everything replaced tin. His love for the maiden overcomes this tragedy and his becomes more productive now with new arms and legs fueled by his love for the maiden he keeps working toward his goal. So she does one last thing causes his ax to slip and splits his heart and with a lost heart he no longer cared about the maiden he became just a machine hollow man. All that matters is work working starts rain stuck in rusted position time to realize what he needs, a new heart. 2
Notice once a real man ALIVE AND IN LOVE but as series of blows in his life causes him to lose sight of his dream his pursuit of love for the maiden and the dream of living happily ever-after. See the enemy knows the heart is vital and all his forces are fixed upon its destruction. If the enemy can deaden your heart he can effectively spoil God s plan for your life for what you are created for (LOVE GOD, LOVE OTHERS).. What will destroy a heart for God? Our physical heart is positioned by God to provide protection from destructive external forces. Not so with the spiritual heart. It is susceptible to all kinds of harmful diseases and influences that might jeopardize its integrity. That's why the writer of Proverbs said, "Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life" (Prov. 4:23). The health and productivity of the heart cannot be assumed. It must be constantly protected to ward off these destructive forces. And what are they? A. Success. Success crowds our heart with things and the signs of accomplishments. It tends to puff up our heart with counterfeit accolades causing us to say "look what I have done." B. Selfishness. Selfishness shrinks our heart to where there is room for only three - me, myself, and mine. It becomes grotesque and unable to face life because it alienates the needed life support of others. C. LAZINESS/APATHY. LAZINESS dries up the heart with inactivity, laziness, and lack of service. The heart is like love, it functions to maximum capacity as it pumps out service to others. D. Sin. Sin hardens the heart to the things that really matter in life. The heart becomes blackened like a chain-smoker's lungs as it is separated from its life source, God Himself. 3
E. Stress. Stress breaks the heart by placing unnecessary demands on it. The heart crumbles under the pressure. It fails to recognize the power that has been made available to prevent anxiety. Those are destructive forces that we allow in there are things that happen to us in our lives (failed relationships, shattered dreams, hurt by other people, tragedies that come our way cause us to lose heart) Allow God to come in and bind up our hearts. Psalm 147:3 He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds PSALM 34:18, PSALM 73:26, But sometimes we LOSE HEART because we choose to run away from God. To do things our own way follow God half-heartily try to find meaning in other things we often discover that all these things I am trying to find happiness, joy and meaning for life don t fully fulfill me and I find myself again losing heart. No matter what has caused you to LOSE HEART and not be living the life God intended you for created you to do you need to RUN TO JESUS AND ASK HIM TO RESET YOUR HEART- BRING IT BACK TO IT S ORIGINAL DESIGN LOVING GOD AND LOVING OTHERS. READ EZEKIEL 36:26 3 BY PRODUCTS OF A RESET HEART DAVID DECLARES IN PSALM 24:3-4 (READ) 1) THOSE WITH A RESET HEART REJECT IMPURITY (V4) When we draw near to God when we ascend the mountain of the LORD, as Psalm 24:3 says we are named among those who have clean hands and a pure heart. The purity we have been longing for? It is found in Jesus alone. We come to him and he comes close to us, and he begins to impart his thoughts, his ways, his responses, his desires to us. And we begin to resemble him. We begin to be transformed. Purified. Made whole. DRAW NEAR TO GOD YOUR HANDS WILL BE CLEAN AND YOUR HEART PURE 2) THOSE WITH A RESET HEART TRUST IN JESUS ALONE Look at Psalm 24, at the end of verse 4. Remember, we are talking here about those who ascend the mountain of the LORD. Those who love God, who respond 4
with a ready yes to Jesus offer of a reset, who do not trust in an idol or swear by a false god but instead put their faith and trust in Jesus alone. Listen, the thing-other-than-god that you ve been putting your faith in? Someday at some point in time that thing is going to fall YOU. It can be your spouse. Your pastor. Your parents faith. The government. Your good words. Your habits and addictions and likes on Facebook. Whatever it is you are putting your faith in today will someday bow down before the living Lord and say, I am not worthy. And you know what? It s not. It s absolutely not worthy of your faith. Jesus is worthy of your faith, and those with reset hearts trust in Jesus alone. 3) THOSE WITH A RESET HEART STAND IN GOD S PRESENCE V3 This is what it means, after all, to ascend the mountain of the LORD. We come into the presence of God. Do you understand what this means? We don t have to spend our days standing in a desperate place. Or standing in a depressed place. Or in a fearful place. Or in a sinful place. We can plant ourselves in the presence of God. We can stand in a holy place all of our days near to ultimate power, near to ultimate victory, near to ultimate love, near to ultimate grace. We can stand firm despite the howling winds around us when we are standing on faith in Christ. Call to Action and Prayer 5