A Free Heart - Luke Kennedy

Ps Luke Kennedy shares the amazing message “A Free Heart”, touching on offence, bitterness, resentment and cynicism, this message will help us to guard our heart.

Ps Luke shares from Proverbs 4:20-24, Mark 7:20-23, John 7:37-38, Hebrews 12:14-15, Ephesians 4:26-17 and Luke 15:31

We pray you’re blessed by this message—and we’d love to see you in person. Join us every Sunday at 10am. See you there.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:33

All right. Grab a seat. Let's jump into the scriptures together. I'd love to talk to you today about your heart. And call this message having a free heart. What is a free heart? It feels good to have a free heart. I wonder today who is living rent-free in your head. Who's living rent-free? Who are the conversations maybe that you've had years ago? Maybe you know those kind of arguments where you go in there and you don't quite nail what you really could have said that could have been that real sharp. You know, you could have cut them, but it just didn't come to your lips in time. And then later on, you think, man, I should have said that. That would have just nailed them so much. And then you rehearse that kind of conversation, you rehearse the conversation over and over, and think all of the ways that next time you get into that situation, you are going to blast that conversation so hard, you are gonna win. And as I'm saying it, it's funny because we actually do that. And it's like today I'm just holding up a little mirror to our own hearts. The condition of my heart has the effect on my future, like very little else, does. The condition of my heart overflows into every part of my life. There's a chapter in the Bible in Proverbs chapter 4, where a father is talking to a son, and he's talking to him about wisdom and how to live a great life. And part of what he says to him is this verse that I that I really love. He says, Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Everything in your life flows from what's happening inside of your heart. That's a challenging thought, isn't it? Um the word for flows from your heart in the Hebrew language has two concepts, part of it. Two concepts. One is it's like a like a water that flows out. The other concept is mostly used in the book of Joshua, where they actually describing the boundaries of the land that they're giving to people. Okay, so it has this concept of yes, it's what flows out, but it's also the thing that determines the boundaries or how big your life is. Your heart determines how big your life can be. So if I'm living a very small life, it may be that there's something in my heart that's keeping it small. There's some unforgiveness, there's some junk, there's some hidden junk in my heart that is overflowing in my life and keeping it small. So guard your heart because it's both the spring of your life and it's also the surveyor of your life. Um, Dallas Willard, in his book, Renovation of the Heart, he says the human heart, will or spirit is the executive center of the human life. The heart is where decisions and choices are made for the whole person. That is its function. It's the executive center. Not that, not necessarily even the feelings department. It's more where you make the decisions of your life. It's the center of who you are that overflows. Very important condition. Henry Nellyn in his book, The Way of the Heart, I love Henry Nellyn's writing on this issue of the heart, beautiful Catholic theologian. He says, the heart is the central and unifying organ of our personal life. Our heart determines our personality and is therefore not only the place where God dwells, but also the place in which Satan directs his fiercest attacks. So the heart is both the throne room of God and the battlefield for the enemy. The enemy would love to destroy your heart. Ever lost heart before? Just, I just lost heart. I just don't have it within me to fight another another day. Don't lose heart. Jesus often said this. But a free heart is so powerful, it's really, really powerful. Um, we guard the inner life because our life flows from it. And personally, I refuse to carry offense and bitterness and entitlement and cynicism and unforgiveness. Not because I'm not hurt sometimes, because I am hurt sometimes, but because I refuse to give someone else's behavior permanent residence inside of my heart. Jesus taught about this in Mark chapter 7, verse 20. He said, What comes out of a person is what defiles them. The religious people were saying, These are the rules. You're not allowed to do this and this, and it was all outward stuff. You're not allowed to eat this food, you're not allowed to eat on this day, you're not allowed, you have to sit here and stand here. And there's so many rules for life, and Jesus said, You've missed the point. That is not the thing that is defiling you or messing you up. It's what's happening in here that's messing you up. He says that sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, basically all the list of the nasty stuff that we don't want. All of these things come from inside and defile a person. Verse 37 says, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from within them. So Jesus is painting this picture. Inside of me, there's a river. It's from God, it's the life of God, it's flowing out of me. And the life of God begins in the deepest part of who I am. That's why knowing God personally is so important. It's not enough to come to church. You need to know God in your life. That is the source of eternal life, is knowing God. And you can know God today. It's not very complicated. God is desperately wants you to know Him. Um everything that I have that is producing eternal fruit, like actually matters in life, is coming from this deep place with God that I have. But there's often things that constrain that river. There's often things that block that river. And I want to talk about uh just a few today. I want to talk about four, okay? Then it's gonna get better after that. Alright? We okay? Number one is offense. Offense will stop the life of God flowing through you. And Luke chapter 17. Sorry, I have a few few verses from Luke today. We're back, guys. Jesus says to his disciples, things that cause people to stumble are bound to come. They are coming. Offense is coming. If you're not offended yet, just wait. It's coming. The word is the word scandalon in the Bible. It's the word offense, is scandalon, and it's a it's a mental picture, it's a word picture, and the picture is the little bit of bait that holds up a trap where you catch animals to kill them, right? If you have if you've ever seen trapping um, you know, rabbits or you know, something like that, you you'll see trapping. It's the piece of bait that you put on there that lures the person, lures the rabbit in, that's the scandalon, and that's what Jesus is saying, that's the offense. So the issue that will destroy your life is not what happened to you. Although some bad things may happen to you. That is not the thing that will destroy you. The thing that will destroy your heart is when you eat the scandal on, take the bait, and you actually consume that as part of who you are. Take on offense as part of your identity. You will be offended. That is not the issue. The issue is, are you going to eat the offense? Proverbs 18, 19. A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city. And contentions are like bars of a castle. Notice the picture. It's not a wound, it's a fortress. Offense doesn't make you soft, offense makes you hard. When you eat offense, it makes you have a hard heart. The problem is, I often think you offended me. I'm looking over at Renee because Renee and I are great friends. Um, and she hasn't offended me. Not yet. Um if you offend me, I'm going to close off my heart to you. The problem is, I think I can close off my heart to you and still be wildly open to God and everyone else, and that is a false, that is not true. A hard heart is a hard heart. And some of us are not hearing from God very much because my heart is so hard because I've gobbled up the offense from one person. That's how it works. You can't have a hard heart towards one person and a soft heart towards everyone else. It doesn't work like that. The second one, are you enjoying my motivational talk? Um, the second one is bitterness. This is the root that spreads. The Bible talks about it in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. It says, Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Without holiness, no one can see the Lord. That is a life set apart. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Have you ever tried to dig up roots, um, roots in your yard, and you keep pulling on the thread, and they just keep going and going and going, and then suddenly they've just affected your whole yard, and but it's underneath the surface. That's bitterness. Bitterness never stays private, bitterness never stays individual, it always affects other people. That's why when someone's offended and they start gossiping about it, it spreads, and other people take on their offense, even though they have nothing to do with it, they will take on the same level of offense and bitterness. And the Bible says it's like a root that grows up and the fruit of it spreads everywhere. Your bitterness in your home will actually affect your whole family. It won't stay personal. Bitterness never stays personal, it always spreads. It's a community problem. Bitterness is a community problem, it defiles many, many. It's not a private hobby. The third one that I see a lot of is resentment. Resentment is the complaint of the older brother in Luke chapter 15. It's the older brother. Resentment. Um, Henry Nowen again says when I listen carefully to the words in which the elder son attacks his father, self-righteousness, self-pity, jealous words, I hear a deeper complaint. It is the complaint that comes from a heart that feels like it never received what it was due. It is a complaint expressed in countless subtle and not so subtle ways, forming a bedrock of human resentment. I, other people got what I deserve. It's an entitlement. I deserve. And you didn't give me what I deserve. Therefore, I have resentment towards you. It's a it's a it's a real um it's a real pollen. Here's the reality check, though. What I've noticed is joy and resentment cannot coexist. They don't exist together. Because joy is a byproduct of thankfulness. I'm so thankful for what I've received, therefore I have joy. I am not getting what is duly earned to me, that's resentment. I cannot have joy in the middle of that. I cannot celebrate other people's breakthrough or other people's wins when I have resentment in my heart. What about me is the cry of the immature Christian. What about me? What about me? And oh, what Marcher, can't you see? That was like a Shannon. That was like a voice of a generation, right? What about me? You just take more than you give. Millennials, that's a millennial um war song right there. Um here's a diagnosis, though. Resentment is something that needs to be brought to the foot of the cross before Jesus. And remembering the joy of my salvation. Thankfulness is the antidote towards resentment. Thankfulness. That's why the practice of being thankful, that's why worship, which is really thankfulness, is so important. It protects your heart from getting screwed up. Protects your heart from resentment. I'm like praising God, I'm being thankful to God, and protects me from having a small heart. And here's the last one for today is cynicism. Cynicism, the old Australian heart song. The heart that turns into stone. Cynicism is what happens when disappointment is left alone in my heart. Cynicism doesn't say I'm afraid to hope again. I'm afraid. It doesn't say that. It says, I'm just being realistic. It justifies itself, right? Cynicism always has a justification. I'm just being realistic, man. I'm just setting my boundaries. I'm just I'm just living small on purpose. I'm just I'm just lowering my belief in people on purpose, you know, because I'm realistic. No, just cynical. Cynicism will destroy your heart, though. And cynicism is the native language of the defeated heart. That should not be our voice, guys. That's not who we are. We are not defeated. You're a child of God. You're chosen, you are blessed, you are loved, you are cared for by the good shepherd. He knows the beginning from the end, and in the end you win, not because how good you are, but because you are in Christ, and Christ is king over everything in the end. So lift your eyes, praise the Lord, shake off your cynicism and worship God in thankfulness, even if you don't feel like it. Because feelings are a great diagnostic. Something is not right, but they are not great, they are not great leaders for your life. I'm going to be led by a decision to praise the Lord, even if everything is going wrong in my life. Because I know it's true. And it protects my heart. So I would like to say to you today, guard your heart. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 26. We're coming to the tail end of this. In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil a foothold in your life. Do not give the devil a place in your life. Do not secede the ground of your heart to the devil through being offended. Cynical, bitter, resentful. Do not secede that ground in your heart to him. He would love to have that place in your life. Let me finish with this. Luke chapter 15, verse 31. This is what the Father, the Father's wonderful words, I'm gonna pray for you in a moment if the team wanted to come back and worship with me a little bit. My son, the father said, You are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad. Because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he is found. Thank you, Lord. What is he really saying? He's saying, Son, you've missed the big picture. Your heart has become small through resentment. Everything you see is like Simba. Simba on the Mafasa. Everything the light touches, everything, God has given us everything. How blessed are we? Have you start to think about how blessed we are? We are so blessed. No matter your challenges right now, you are so blessed in your life. Not someday, right now, you are blessed. And he forgot about it. He had everything that he had. But he saw someone else getting blessed. And his small heart couldn't celebrate. He didn't even understand what joy was like. He got called into a party. He didn't even know what a party was like. He was confused by the party. What is this music and dancing? He said. What is this strange phenomena of lifting your hands and singing to the Lord? I don't understand this. And he stood back and he watched. His heart was full of resentment. He couldn't celebrate. He didn't have a free heart. And the father's so kind to him. His father doesn't say, You're a terrible son, you've got a bad heart. He doesn't say that. He could have. He didn't. He says to him, Don't you realize you have everything right now? Everything I have is yours. You could celebrate every night of the week. We could have parties every single weekend celebrating you and all that I have for you. You don't need to wait to celebrate. Free your heart. Like David said, why are you so downcast, O my soul? He's speaking to his own heart, saying, Come on, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Here's what I found. Here's my last little thought. We're gonna pray for you in a moment. Is nothing has guarded my heart against smallness like what the Father says, we had to celebrate. This son of mine was dead, now he's alive. Nothing has guarded my heart like being outward focused. Have you stopped caring about the lost? Your heart will get small. Caring about the lost is God's antidote for us against a small heart. It's a perspective shifter. So many of the things people say, why are we doing this in this church? So much of the answer is because of the lost. Because God loves all the sons equally, but he prioritizes the lost. Hello everyone. Loved equally, but his priority is the one that's lost. We lost Lucy for like five hours last year when we went to Japan at Universal Studios. It was a nightmare. I was crying. And it was so, I was so desperately wanting to find her, and we couldn't find her. The police came in. Um, it was it was such a thing. I was everything was racing through my mind. And Hugo was there, and I love Hugo so much, but I I could tell you, I didn't think about Hugo once that day. All I thought about, I love you, you're awesome. I I was absolutely consumed with my daughter who was lost. That's the heart of the father. We can get so caught up on me and us and mine and what's this church doing for me and consuming and gobbling everything that's happening here and forget the heart of the father is we are all loved, but the priority is the loss, my friend. It will guard your heart. So my invitation to you today is to come back to a big heart. Leave behind, I love what one missionary said, leave behind your small ambitions and come and change the world. Leave behind your small heart and come and be a part of God's plan for the world. Gonna pray for us today. Thank you, Lord. Yeah, we've touched on lots of sore points today. So gotta pray we would hear today the gracious words of the Father, the same way that older son did. Not a word of slapping us down or anger, but a word of love in a perspective. Come today, Holy Spirit, and set our hearts right. And I pray for those here who have a struggling, and we are all struggling, God. Let's be honest, we're all struggling with bitterness or resentment or fear, whatever it is, jealousy. God, I pray that you would come and by your spirit, by that river of life, come and flow and wash our hearts clean. And we repent today, God, of unforgiveness and resentment and bitterness. God, we repent of that. We turn back to you. Come and fill our hearts with your life. Make us new, God. Transform our heart. Come and do heart surgery on us, God. We need it. Give us a heart for the things that you have for us. Give us a heart for the lost. I wonder if today of you just want to take a moment to respond to God in these final moments. There's areas of your life that you know that maybe even the Holy Spirit, as it's been speaking, has been just knocking on the door of your heart. There's something that won't let go right now. I wonder if you just take a moment to lay that at the foot of the cross right now. And say, God, I can't carry this anymore. I don't want to live like this. Would you help me? And just finally, you know, what I've offered you here today is not a self-help program or a things of a list of things to get better at. The only way that we change is by God coming in and changing our hearts, transforming our hearts. This is not a work of ourselves. It is a surrender to the work of God in our lives. His good work. So if you're here today and you don't really know God, I'd love to pray for you to receive that life of God today. I wonder if you would just um, if you would like that, if you would like to know God today. I wonder if you would just put your hand on your heart right now. This is your way of saying, God, come in and do this heart work in me. And I'll pray for you, okay? Just put your hand on your heart. God, we love you, invite you into our lives. Come and do the transforming work that only you can do. Set our hearts free, make us children of God. Give us the courage to say yes to you today. And we know you and be forever changed by you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So good. You doing good? Yeah? Would you like prayer? If you would like prayer, I'm gonna just stay here. Um Renee and Foom. Foom shared so wonderfully last week. So wonderfully, thank you. On such a similar topic, if you haven't heard it, it's on the podcast. Um, we're gonna be here. Um, we're gonna pray for people, okay? If you would like prayer, maybe you just want to have someone stand with you about some of the things that you were just processing with God. We'd love to pray with you, okay? Would you come? Otherwise, have an amazing week. I'm gonna stand here. Feel free to come. I'd love to pray for you. All right, be blessed.