From The Inside Out

Title: From the Inside Out

Theme: To help people to understand that the only way to change our behavior on the outside is to change the inside.

Text: Galatians 5:22-23, Romans 12:1-2

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Rom 12:1 Message So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Importance of the Heart

Illustration: A grandmother took her four-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, to the doctor's office because she'd been running a fever. The doctor looked in her ears and said, "Who's in there, Donald Duck?"

Amanda said, "No!"

Then the doctor looked in her nose and said, "Who's in there, Mickey Mouse?"

Again she answered, "No!"

Finally he put his stethoscope on her heart and asked, "Who's in there, Barney?"

Amanda replied indignantly, "No, Jesus is in my heart. Barney is on my underwear!"

Source: Barbara Johnson, Living Somewhere Between Estrogen and Death, 1997, p. 124.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Matthew 12:30 "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. 31 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. (32) "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (33) "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. (34) "Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. (36) "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. (37) "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Luke 6:43-45 "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. (44) "For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. (45) "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

A pure heart comes from spending time in the Word of God and allowing

the truth to expose sin and cleanse us, and as a result the pure in heart

will see God. In the Greek this is understood as a continuous, reflective

action. It could be read as “they shall continually see God for

themselves.”

It is a pure heart that separates those who see the church and think

“What a great church!” from those who see the Savior and think “What a

great Christ!”

Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Mat 5:8 Message "You're blessed when you get your inside world--your mind and heart--put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

Psalms 24:4-5 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. (5) He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.