Issues Of Life - Part One

ISSUES OF LIFE

- Part One -

Text: Proverbs 4:20 thru 23

Prayer:

We should always take care to listen carefully to God’s Word.

The NIV says in verse 20 to “listen closely to my words.”

I am impressed that the Lord wants to speak plainly to His people today. When we do, those words (from God) will find their way into our hearts where they will change our lives.

Recent surveys indicate many believe the bible to be the Word of God, but very few read it.

Many of us know that every word from the Lord is important to us. God’s Word can/will change us. We don’t want to miss anything God has for us. In order for our lives to change, our hearts must change first.

Tonight I want to talk to you about your heart. Let me to be your spiritual cardiologist for the next few moments.

I know very little about the actual organ in your body that pumps blood, other than it is the most active muscle we have. What I do know is that your heart plays an important role in how healthy you are. The doctor is constantly reminding us of this with our diet and exercise.

Next to your heart are your lungs.

And, although your lungs are important, your heart is actually more important than your ability to breathe.

For example, some of you have suffered from the typical flu symptoms this winter. You know how miserable you can feel when you are congested.

Nevertheless, we all seem to eventually get over the flu.

Get some rest, take some medication and you will recover. Eventually you will feel better. Our lungs have the ability to heal quickly, but your heart doesn’t.

Talking about your Heart and your Lungs may seem very simple to most of us, but if your heart were to become that ill, you would be in serious trouble. This is because your heart determines the health and well being of your whole body.

Even if your heart were to become just slightly sick, you would suffer in every area of your life.

Transition

Actually, the human heart can determine a lot of things in your life. Both physically and spiritually. In our text, the NIV translation tells us that the word of God is good for your heart, and will become health to a “man’s whole body”.

Side Note – Here’s the prescription we all need. Got a cold, get the Word in you (along with the aspirin). Amen?

You may not feel up to being spiritual, but God says He wants His Word in you (Read the Word & Drink the Nytol).

Remember, God’s Word is “life to those who find them”.

They say that if you get sick, it’s usually because your resistance is low/down. If you are not up to full strength, you can easily get sick. Your heart does play an important role in your resistance and with the health of your

Physical Well Being.

More importantly, your heart is responsible for your

Spiritual Well Being. You may have a spiritual body that is sometimes neglected or forgotten.

If your soul, or your spirit man, is sick, it is because you have let your resistance get down. Your spiritual heart is suffering from neglect. You need a dose of the Word, from Dr. Jesus.

We must realize today how careful we must be with our heart. Especially in spiritual matters.

This is because the heart

Governs the things of the body and the soul.

Governs life and death issues for us.

The health of your heart is determined with how you take care of it. You may choose to keep your heart soft and subtle. Or, you can allow your heart become hardened.

There is medical term that some of us may have heard before. It is called “hardening of the arteries”.

This is when there is a build up that begins to clog up the arteries restricting the blood flow to the whole body.

Over time, this build up can harden the arteries and (obviously) can become life threatening.

In a spiritual sense, we must take care that this doesn’t happen with our hearts for the things of God.

If you want medical information about your physical heart, you would look in the Medical Journals. These journals tell us that it is estimated that your heart will pump more that 2 billion times in your life. Amazing, isn’t it?

But we have a more important and amazing book to read.

It is our Spiritual Journal. This book tells us much more.

In Proverbs 4, we can see that our heart is pumping more than just blood. The heart is pumping the “issues of life”.

The heart is the “wellspring of life.”