On November 28, 1979 Flight 901 left Auckland Airport in New Zealand. The flight was a sightseeing tour bound for Antarctica with 257 people on board.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/kids/nzdisasters/erebus.asp
These sight seeing tours had been operating since 1977. They had experienced pilots, but these two men had never flown this
particular flight before. They knew there destination and set their course.
Our verse in the NLT says, “Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.”
What course are you heading for? A dream maybe in your heart that almost sounds like a destination you cannot achieve? Is this the life you planned to live or have you found yourself following someone else’s plan?
The word heart refers to the whole personality. Why do we act that way think that way or say the things we do? Is it really you?
T.S. Eliot wrote, “Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want; whatever you feel, be sure it is what you feel.” http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/38971.html
When David became King over all of Israel, God sent Nathan the prophet to him and gave David these word, “Go do all that is in your heart for the LORD is with you.” 2 Samuel 7:3
In other words David your course is set, your heart is right and now go fulfill your life’s mission. God is with you and nothing can stop you from being all that God wants you to be.
Notice again Proverbs 4:23
Two wonderful truths that enable us to set our course and reach our destination safely.
I. Your Heart’s Guard “Keep your heart with all diligence “
The word keep refers to a guard, the word diligence actually refers to a prison guard watching out for the bad things that happen.
A guard on and around your heart. Don’t let the wrong things come through your mind and in your heart. Stand watch. How?
Think about a prison guard for a moment. He is there to keep the bad guys from harming themselves, other inmates and to keep them from getting out to harm innocent people. The guard also doesn’t let other people in that shouldn’t be there.
A guard on our heart is just the same. We are to Protect our heart in such a way we don’t harm ourselves, others or that what we say could damage our testimony. How again do we accomplish this?
Great question. Here’s the answer. I can’t let things into my heart that would damage me from being useful to God and other
people.
Take soda for example. Now if your from the South you say soda, doesn’t matter what the flavor is I like Diet Pepsi but I especially like Mountain Dew, White Out Voltage, or Live Wire.
If you’re from the North it’s not soda it’s pop. I’ll have a pop. In the South you better duck if you say that.
The dental community says, “People who drink 3 or more
sugary sodas daily have 62% more dental decay, fillings and tooth loss!”
http://www.dentalgentlecare.com/diet_soda.htm
I say...SO! I’ll drink 2 a day and not have 62%. I like diet Pepsi and even though it will rot my teeth I’m still going to drink it.
But let’s just say that I drink 4 a day, 6 a day, 10 a day, and my favorite dentist spends her years to retirement drilling holes in my head or teeth.
What have I done? I’ve done what many are doing to their hearts. They are letting anger, bitterness, bad attitudes, grudges, build up on their hearts and it is causing the one thing they need to guard to decay. The hardness of the heart has caused many well directed Christians to get off course.
Their lives have become misdirected because something in their life has caused heart trouble. Their Spirit is decaying. The Bible says, ”A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.” Proverbs 17:22
Dry bones are worse than rotten teeth. The whole character and countenance changes when are hearts get hardened by the things of life.
That’s what happens you know. Day by day, little by little things eat away at our moral fiber. Gossip gets a grip, Bitterness takes a bite, slander slides our way, anger acts out and then pride takes a place of prominence in our hearts.
Without our guard being up we get puffed up. We stand on bad attitudes and sit in wrong motives. The first Psalm warns us about that, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he
meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2
Stand with sinners, take our place in sin, or sit with mockers. Mockers means, people who are arrogant, or know it all. Pride takes it’s place when we fail to guard our hearts.
The second word for Keep in our text means to
B. Obey—It ties with Psalm 1 andPsalm 19:14
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Meditation on the Word of God keeps the heart guarded against decay and keeps us on the right course.
Joshua was told that right after he took over the 2 million man march in Joshua chapter 1. “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:7-8
Hear God whisper in Joshua’s heart, meditate on my Word Joshua and you will prosper in all that you do….guard your heart.
II. Your Heart’s Goal “for out of it spring the issues of life.”
The word issues really means a geographical boundary. A Direction to go in.
Without a guard on our heart we cannot know the right direction we are heading. Our thoughts and feelings can’t be trusted. Remeber T.S. Eliot’s words, “Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want; whatever you feel, be sure it is what you feel.”
How can we know for sure if what we think or how we feel is what is in our own hearts? Look at the word, “out of it spring the issues of life.”
It doesn’t take long in a conversation with a child, or friend or stranger for that matter, to hear their heart. A glad, excited heart springs out what is in it. Their dreams and goals spring out!
A sad heart isn’t excited about the issue of life. Life has beaten them up, down or turned them inside out.
Many people have allowed something or someone to stop the spring of their heart. The spring in their step has turned into a limp. They are damaged goods, shipwrecked souls who have gotten way off course and their hearts have become cold and calloused.
Even some Christians give up. Church strife, Another Christian, life situation something didn’t come to pass and their dreams and goals fade away.
They see lost people flourishing, lukewarm hearts seem to be doing okay and why then do we have to be faithful to the law of the Lord?
Paul reminds us: “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
Galatians 6:9
The only way to not lose heart is to keep doing what is right. Don’t get discouraged following Jesus. He case more about our life’s goal then we do. He wants us to reach the goal and fly in the right direction.
When the pilots of flight 901 entered the coordinates into the computer system the coordinates had changed overnight. The
direction they were going in was off by only a few degrees.
What if our heart’s are just a little off course? The flight arrived in Antarctica for the sight seeing tour and dropped below 12,000 ft. They were supposed to be flying over the flat McMurdo sound.
Instead the computer glitch made them 28 miles off course. The snow blended in with the clouds and you really, visually couldn’t see the difference everything was white!
Being just a little off our goal can damage us forever. Flight 901 at 12:49 pm crashed into Mt. Erebus that stood at 12,000 ft.
God wants you to safely arrive at your goal. However, many lives, probably some we could all testify to today have not died physically, but little by little day by day, their hearts have died because their life went just a little off course of their goal.
Conclusion:
What is in your heart right now to do? What is it that you want most out of life?
It doesn’t matter if you are at the end, middle or beginning in years. What is it that you want to accomplish or do between now and the end of the year?
I know God has big plans for you and for me. I know His heart for us and His purpose for us is bigger than we can ask or think. Ephesians 3:20 says so.
But don’t give in or give up on your heart. It’s all you have.
Set your course, be on guard and reach your goal.
There really is only one life and how well we live it is determined by how much we want to serve God and help others.
God never gives a selfish goal. And God never blesses a selfish heart.
PRAY
