WEBVTT 00:00:00.862 --> 00:00:12.506 Let's just lift our Bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad, and let's say this together say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be tuned in to Wednesday night live stream. 00:00:12.506 --> 00:00:17.190 I'm looking forward to what God has for me tonight. 00:00:17.190 --> 00:00:36.531 I'm not listening for someone else, I'm paying attention for myself and I'm gonna let the Word of God come into me richly and all wisdom, and I'm gonna make the proper adjustments in my life and be a doer of the Word in Jesus' name, amen. 00:00:36.531 --> 00:00:49.970 Let's look at Daniel, chapter six tonight, and also Proverbs, chapter four, and we will get into the Word together. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:01:12.085 Daniel six, verse one it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes which should be over the whole kingdom and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might have accounts, might give accounts under them and the king should have no damage. 00:01:12.085 --> 00:01:28.751 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit, an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 00:01:28.751 --> 00:01:34.766 So Daniel had an excellent spirit and it was noticed by the king. 00:01:34.766 --> 00:01:39.430 And then over in Proverbs, the fourth chapter. 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:46.022 We want to get to that one, verse 23,. 00:01:46.022 --> 00:02:11.771 Keep or guard thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, out of it are the issues of life, and so I wanted to speak tonight about guarding your spirit. 00:02:11.771 --> 00:02:18.836 It's so easy now because of the way things are in the world. 00:02:18.836 --> 00:02:32.469 You know, jesus, or rather the word says in the last days, paul told Timothy in the last days, perilous times shall come, dangerous times, and we need to stay in the spirit. 00:02:32.469 --> 00:02:44.800 We need to be people of the spirit and we need to be sensitive to the ways of the spirit, because that's the only way to really properly combat what's going on in the world. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.604 The spirit realm is the causal realm. 00:02:49.604 --> 00:02:54.983 Everything comes from the spirit realm and we wrestle about against flesh and blood. 00:02:54.983 --> 00:02:57.062 So we have to be strong in our spirit. 00:02:57.062 --> 00:03:00.525 We have to guard our hearts or our spirit. 00:03:00.525 --> 00:03:04.002 Daniel had an excellent spirit. 00:03:04.002 --> 00:03:07.024 That means extraordinary, preeminent. 00:03:07.024 --> 00:03:10.163 He was smart and wise. 00:03:10.163 --> 00:03:13.742 There's no fault or error found in him. 00:03:14.455 --> 00:03:26.723 You know, in the beginning of Daniel Daniel 1-8, it says that Daniel, as a young man, he had purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king's meat and with the wine. 00:03:26.723 --> 00:03:33.063 You know, they had a way of eating, they had a way of drinking and he wanted to keep the dietary law. 00:03:33.063 --> 00:03:33.998 He wanted to. 00:03:33.998 --> 00:03:39.247 And so, you know, they kind of confronted him about his diet. 00:03:39.247 --> 00:03:41.361 They wanted him to eat like everybody else was eating. 00:03:41.361 --> 00:03:44.603 And they accused him and he said, look, just let's prove it out. 00:03:44.603 --> 00:03:53.924 You know, give me a month and I'll, you know, we'll eat the way we eat and the rest of them will eat the way they eat. 00:03:53.924 --> 00:03:55.901 And then compare let's compare notes. 00:03:55.901 --> 00:03:58.723 And of course they found out that he was better. 00:03:58.723 --> 00:04:00.356 It was better. 00:04:00.356 --> 00:04:14.723 And so here we find that, after proving his request, the king found Daniel and all the other ones that were with him 10 times better. 00:04:14.723 --> 00:04:17.079 They were 10 times better. 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:24.384 Praise God that all the astrologers and magicians in the kingdom, 10 times. 00:04:24.384 --> 00:04:25.600 Everybody said 10 times. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:27.482 You know, that'd be kind of cool to be 10 X. 00:04:30.521 --> 00:04:42.603 And so Daniel closely guarded his spirit and that you know, it wasn't just, it wasn't an accident that he had an excellent spirit. 00:04:42.603 --> 00:04:49.083 I mean, he guarded his spirit, he protected his spirit, he protected how he lived. 00:04:49.083 --> 00:05:06.057 He thought, you know, about what he ate and drank, and didn't drink, didn't eat, and Proverbs 4.23, you know, guard your or keep your heart for out of it, or the issues of life, it, you know. 00:05:06.057 --> 00:05:12.206 Another version says it literally determines the course of your life, your life and prosperity. 00:05:12.206 --> 00:05:15.886 Moffitt's translation says why is that? 00:05:15.886 --> 00:05:21.307 Because your spirit is the center of your being. 00:05:21.307 --> 00:05:29.904 We are spirits, we live in a body and we have a mind, will and intellect, our soul, and so it's the part of us that lives forever our spirit. 00:05:29.904 --> 00:05:38.228 And our spirit, as our spirit is, is how we are going to have success or not. 00:05:38.228 --> 00:05:45.120 When we allow things in our life that affect our spirit, it's going to affect everything. 00:05:46.595 --> 00:05:48.261 John, chapter 10, verse 10,. 00:05:48.261 --> 00:05:52.060 Jesus said I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. 00:05:52.060 --> 00:06:03.302 When you look up the concordance, your Greek concordance about abundant life, it means super abundant and quantity superior in quality. 00:06:03.302 --> 00:06:13.064 So the qualitative and quantitative part of your life, that's what Jesus came to give you and it says might, that you might have it. 00:06:13.064 --> 00:06:16.564 Well, the might is all on us, it's not on God. 00:06:16.564 --> 00:06:22.322 God has dumped out super abundant and quantity superior in quality. 00:06:22.322 --> 00:06:25.120 That's what he's given, that's what he bought and paid for. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.401 But the might is on our side. 00:06:27.401 --> 00:06:40.682 The might is up to us to keep or to guard our spirit, which governs that life, that Zoe, the God kind of life, the word life there in his Zoe. 00:06:40.682 --> 00:06:42.860 It's the kind of life that God lives. 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:47.942 His life is, god lives it, and that's the very life we have available to us. 00:06:47.942 --> 00:06:53.682 We can live as God lives, we can know as God knows we're not God, but we have his life. 00:06:53.682 --> 00:07:02.204 But if we don't keep or guard our spirit, then we fall short of what God wants us to have. 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:17.646 And again, there's so much pressure in the world vying for attention, trying to get our attention, trying to get us to focus on this, that and the other. 00:07:17.646 --> 00:07:30.060 The devil can't come directly at us, so he creates diversions, he creates distractions to sort of get us to where we're not paying attention. 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:36.166 So our spirit must affect our mind. 00:07:36.166 --> 00:07:40.040 It must affect our mind Say we're three part beings. 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:45.540 As I mentioned, we're a spirit being, we live in a body, we have a mind, a will and intellect, which is our soul. 00:07:47.175 --> 00:07:51.867 And in Romans, chapter eight, let's turn over there. 00:07:51.867 --> 00:08:05.322 Romans eight, it gives you some principles here. 00:08:05.322 --> 00:08:25.725 In verse five it says for they that are after the flesh, those who live after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but those that live after the spirit mind the things of the spirit, or to be carnally minded or fleshly minded is death. 00:08:25.725 --> 00:08:32.110 But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 00:08:32.110 --> 00:08:33.735 There's that word life again. 00:08:33.735 --> 00:08:37.577 So way it's the life as God lives. 00:08:37.577 --> 00:08:37.658 It. 00:08:37.658 --> 00:08:50.489 It's the life that Jesus came to give super, abundant quantities, superior in quality, and here it's linking whether or not we have that life in abundance, like he wants, to our mind. 00:08:50.489 --> 00:08:52.889 I mean, if we're currently minded, it's death. 00:08:52.889 --> 00:09:00.880 In other words, currently minded is going to hinder our spirit from manifesting this abundant life. 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:14.039 Again, health, prosperity, everything it has to do with our life on earth, is linked up to whether our mind is affected by our spirit. 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:15.996 So we've got to guard our spirit. 00:09:15.996 --> 00:09:21.059 If we allow our spirit to be affected by the spirit of this world, what's gonna happen? 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:25.633 And our mind is going to begin to take over Our carnal mind. 00:09:25.633 --> 00:09:34.655 We're going to be more moved by what we can see and our five senses, our sense, knowledge is gonna take over rather than our spirit. 00:09:34.655 --> 00:09:39.097 And so the minding of the flesh is death. 00:09:40.129 --> 00:09:50.097 That's not talking about physical death, although it can result in that, but it's really talking about separation from God, separation from the bright presence of the Father. 00:09:50.097 --> 00:09:52.354 See, this is the key. 00:09:52.354 --> 00:10:08.594 I mean, when we're spiritually minded, we're connected up with heaven, we're connected up with the Father, we're connected up with Jesus and we receive warnings, we receive inside information, we receive supernatural insight, we listen. 00:10:08.594 --> 00:10:12.157 It's like going through life with both arms tied behind our back. 00:10:12.157 --> 00:10:15.855 When we're carnaly minded, we're separated from God. 00:10:15.855 --> 00:10:20.198 In fact, it says the carnal mind at verse seven. 00:10:20.198 --> 00:10:22.235 Because the carnal mind? 00:10:22.235 --> 00:10:23.754 What is the carnal mind? 00:10:23.754 --> 00:10:26.076 Again, the minding of the flesh. 00:10:26.076 --> 00:10:32.758 Paying attention to the flesh is enmity against God. 00:10:32.758 --> 00:10:42.049 Enmity, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be the spiritual, the spirit. 00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:44.673 I've been talking about the laws of the kingdom on Sunday morning. 00:10:44.673 --> 00:10:51.438 Well, you know what, when you're carnaly minded, forget about the laws of the kingdom, because you won't even be thinking about the laws of the king. 00:10:51.438 --> 00:10:53.597 Well, I thought we didn't have to keep the law. 00:10:53.597 --> 00:10:57.977 But I'm not talking about the Jewish law, I'm not talking about the dietary law and all of that. 00:10:57.977 --> 00:11:04.239 I'm talking about the principles that are in the Bible, that are in violet, that we need to know about. 00:11:04.239 --> 00:11:13.798 You know, I talked about two of them Sunday the law of calling and the law of serving, or we can call it the law of priority, putting God first. 00:11:13.798 --> 00:11:20.500 And when people are carnaly minded, they're not gonna put God first, they're gonna put their own comfort first. 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:22.296 They're gonna put their own interests first. 00:11:23.149 --> 00:11:31.417 I've been flesh, and so the flesh and the spirit hold your place there and let's run over to Galatians. 00:11:31.417 --> 00:11:39.118 You paid just to the right, first and second Corinthians, and then Galatians. 00:11:39.118 --> 00:11:46.275 I'm teaching you some things that you need to. 00:11:46.275 --> 00:11:51.607 You know you need to keep in mind, especially right now. 00:11:51.607 --> 00:11:57.364 Galatians, chapter five, verse 16. 00:11:59.518 --> 00:12:05.070 This I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:07.470 The lust there just means desires of the flesh. 00:12:07.470 --> 00:12:10.629 Your flesh has desires, everybody's got desires. 00:12:10.629 --> 00:12:18.519 But when you walk guarding your spirit and paying attention to your spirit, your flesh doesn't have any rule over you. 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:19.543 You rule over it. 00:12:19.543 --> 00:12:37.123 So walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts or the desires of the flesh, for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. 00:12:37.123 --> 00:12:41.470 Oh, I knew to do that, but I just couldn't make myself. 00:12:41.470 --> 00:12:46.830 Well, I'll say you just need to get your spirit growing, you need to guard your spirit more. 00:12:46.830 --> 00:12:50.110 You know, and we're gonna talk about how to do that. 00:12:51.321 --> 00:12:54.210 But the more powerful your spirit, the more excellent your spirit. 00:12:54.210 --> 00:12:55.163 What is the excellent spirit? 00:12:55.163 --> 00:12:59.101 An extraordinary, preeminent spirit. 00:12:59.101 --> 00:13:03.929 You know, when you were born again you had the potential of having an excellent spirit. 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:07.923 It's already righteous before God. 00:13:07.923 --> 00:13:09.823 But then there are. 00:13:09.823 --> 00:13:10.429 Your spirit can grow. 00:13:10.429 --> 00:13:16.841 You're born as a baby, just like a child is born, and you know, from a mother. 00:13:16.841 --> 00:13:18.629 It starts off as a little baby. 00:13:18.629 --> 00:13:34.620 It's helpless and after a while, then it, you know, suddenly can start to kind of feed itself a little bit and then it starts toddling around and walking and you know, we have all these growth, the ways that human beings grow. 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:36.537 Well, it's very similar to our spirit. 00:13:36.537 --> 00:13:52.600 And so it's necessary for our spirit to grow and keep growing into the place of extraordinary preeminence and that God can use the church so much more. 00:13:53.273 --> 00:14:00.363 So our spirit gains what I call gains the ascendancy over our mind and our body. 00:14:00.363 --> 00:14:06.898 It's like you've got three part being and they all have a vote. 00:14:06.898 --> 00:14:21.561 And when your mind is carnal and it's going to vote with the body every time and overrule your spirit, your spirit going to know you should do this, but it doesn't have the power over your mind and your mind will vote for the body, and then what's going to happen? 00:14:21.561 --> 00:14:22.703 Where you're going to do the wrong thing. 00:14:22.703 --> 00:14:33.085 Every time You're going to obey the flesh, and the Bible says in Galatians that that flesh and the spirit are at war with each other. 00:14:33.085 --> 00:14:36.994 Your flesh is never going to obey God, it's never going to want to. 00:14:36.994 --> 00:14:40.080 It's never going to want to. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.624 So forget about your flesh. 00:14:41.624 --> 00:14:43.128 Everyone wanting to it won't. 00:14:44.029 --> 00:14:44.691 How do you do that? 00:14:44.691 --> 00:14:50.085 Well, you got to get your mind renewed to the Word of God and get your mind trained to agree with your spirit. 00:14:50.085 --> 00:14:59.085 Now your spirit is moving and abundant life can be yours in this life on earth. 00:14:59.085 --> 00:15:00.647 And I have to wait till you get to heaven. 00:15:00.647 --> 00:15:07.899 So when our spirit gains the ascendancy, then our mind will be fixed on the spirit and not the flesh. 00:15:09.886 --> 00:15:13.995 So then, if our spirit is not fed the Word of God, so you can. 00:15:13.995 --> 00:15:18.085 You've got everything to do with, with whether your spirit is going to grow or not. 00:15:18.085 --> 00:15:19.691 That's why you're tuned in tonight. 00:15:19.691 --> 00:15:20.674 You're feeding your spirit. 00:15:20.674 --> 00:15:23.065 I'm giving you some food for your spirit. 00:15:23.065 --> 00:15:26.375 It happens to be the same food for your faith. 00:15:26.375 --> 00:15:37.085 At the same time, you're feeding your faith, you're feeding your spirit, and it's getting stronger, it's getting as growing, it's gaining the ascendancy and your mind is becoming renewed. 00:15:37.085 --> 00:15:45.639 Now you don't have to search so much about what the God Word say, because God's Word is in your memory bank now. 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:48.808 Thank you, you didn't try to memorize it, but it's just going in there. 00:15:48.808 --> 00:15:51.128 It's being renewed, amen. 00:15:51.128 --> 00:16:03.693 And so then, now you've got your spirit in your mind, I've got a lot more occasions when they will agree and overrule the flesh, amen. 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:14.782 So, uh, if that's not the case, you know, if you don't renew your mind and if you don't feed your spirit, then eventually you just override your own conscious. 00:16:14.782 --> 00:16:25.639 What is conscious, conscious, is the voice of your spirit, and a reason is the voice of your mind, and emotion is the voice of your flesh. 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:30.100 Most Christians, in my experience, go on the emotion. 00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:32.067 They just go with how they feel. 00:16:32.067 --> 00:16:33.046 They go. 00:16:33.046 --> 00:16:34.980 If they're joyful, they they go that way. 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:36.860 If they're sad, they go that way. 00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:38.466 It's, it's all about emotion. 00:16:38.466 --> 00:16:40.840 That's the quickest way to destruction. 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:54.039 No, we're, we're called to to guard our spirit and develop our spirit and let our spirit have the ascendancy over our carnal flesh and over our carnal mind. 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:57.278 Now our mind actually becomes a spiritual mind. 00:16:57.278 --> 00:16:57.578 All right. 00:16:57.578 --> 00:16:59.240 So guard your spirit. 00:17:00.683 --> 00:17:04.599 Let's look back at Proverbs, chapter four, and read a few more of the verses. 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.084 We just read verse 23,. 00:17:07.084 --> 00:17:16.257 But let's read down to verse 27, proverbs four Hallelujah. 00:17:16.257 --> 00:17:20.270 Keep your heart with all diligence. 00:17:20.270 --> 00:17:22.480 My margin says, above all, keeping. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.509 So yeah, that's kind of a priority. 00:17:24.509 --> 00:17:34.531 I mean, it's not something we can kind of just, you know, trivet, trivialize, it's kind of major, major priority. 00:17:34.531 --> 00:17:39.519 Keep or guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:45.096 Put away from the afro word mouth and perverse lips, put far from the. 00:17:45.096 --> 00:17:50.614 Let Thine eyes look right on and let that I lids look straight. 00:17:50.614 --> 00:17:57.000 Before the ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:59.259 Turn not to the right hand or the left. 00:17:59.259 --> 00:18:02.898 Remove thy foot from evil. 00:18:02.898 --> 00:18:11.400 So here are the keys of how right here, listed through verses 23 through 27. 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:18.880 These are the keys to guarding your heart and, above all, keeping about diligent, being diligent. 00:18:20.986 --> 00:18:24.400 So the first one is if you want to guard your spirit, you can got to guard your mouth. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:27.570 You've got to guard what comes out of your mouth. 00:18:27.570 --> 00:18:33.259 I mean, a lot of times people's ship is sunk because of bad words that they speak. 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:40.386 They just speak the wrong thing and you know we're spiritual beings and what we say comes to pass, whether it's good or bad. 00:18:40.386 --> 00:18:43.680 The quicker you learn that the better. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:19:01.420 I mean, when you're tempted to just have a go off on a tie raid, lay your hand on your mouth, take a deep breath and, just you know, be careful about all those words, because you know your angels are listening, demons are listening, god's listening, ksbj, god's listening. 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:07.213 So guard your mouth, guard what you say. 00:19:07.213 --> 00:19:14.420 So don't sew words into your garden that you want, unless you want them to grow there. 00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:21.440 I mean, if you're going to sew a bunch of junk in there weeds and bad stuff, for instance don't repeat lies that other people tell. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.136 Gossip, all that guy. 00:19:23.136 --> 00:19:25.338 Those are things that should never come out of your mouth. 00:19:25.338 --> 00:19:25.420 Why? 00:19:25.420 --> 00:19:32.420 Because they're going to be planted in your heart and it's like weeds, it's like briars and thorns. 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:38.726 It's going to choke the good word that you speak, it'll choke it out and if so, it costs you. 00:19:38.726 --> 00:19:50.988 Your Zoe cannot manifest the way that God, super abundant and quantity superior in quality, doesn't manifest, mostly because people's mouths are in the wrong direction. 00:19:50.988 --> 00:19:53.400 So guard what comes out of your mouth. 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:55.387 That's what the Bible said. 00:19:56.705 --> 00:19:59.420 Number two guard your ears, or guard what you hear. 00:19:59.420 --> 00:20:01.378 Guard what you hear. 00:20:01.378 --> 00:20:09.374 Don't hang around people that feel your thinking with garbage. 00:20:09.374 --> 00:20:11.534 You know, garbage in, garbage out. 00:20:11.534 --> 00:20:12.440 Don't listen to bad music. 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:14.509 Listen. 00:20:14.509 --> 00:20:16.420 Be careful what kind of music you listen to. 00:20:16.420 --> 00:20:21.440 You know, I mean, I, when I was lost, I love country music. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:26.380 I still remember all the country songs and some of them are just really terrible words. 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:30.440 If you want to get depressed, just sit there and listen, because that's what is something. 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:40.780 There's kind of a perverse desire for, for people to listen to country music and they, you know they drink and they listen to country music and for the end of the night they're just down on the floor there's. 00:20:40.780 --> 00:20:44.211 There's so sad, so sad, sad singing and slow digging. 00:20:44.211 --> 00:20:46.247 Listen, that's terrible. 00:20:46.247 --> 00:20:50.450 Let's, let's, let's care, let's, let's pay attention to what we're listening to. 00:20:52.704 --> 00:20:54.554 The secular outlook on everything. 00:20:54.554 --> 00:20:57.763 Just just just limit your news. 00:20:57.763 --> 00:21:01.441 I know we need to know what's going on, but we don't have to meditate on it. 00:21:01.441 --> 00:21:06.669 I mean, I heard about the deal and I heard a little bit about it and then I cut it off. 00:21:06.669 --> 00:21:07.074 Because why? 00:21:07.074 --> 00:21:13.914 Because I heard all of the other things and all of the delving into it and the dumb questions and so forth. 00:21:13.914 --> 00:21:14.778 I just don't. 00:21:14.778 --> 00:21:16.061 I just do better. 00:21:16.061 --> 00:21:21.709 I can read the headlines, I can pray, do a lot better than knowing every detail. 00:21:21.709 --> 00:21:27.634 Plus the fact they don't ever know the details at first, they have a lot of misinformation at first. 00:21:27.634 --> 00:21:35.942 It takes several days for all of that to clear out to where they can find out what really happened and interview the right people that saw what happened. 00:21:37.076 --> 00:21:41.464 And the more you enter, the more you kind of get fixated on bad news. 00:21:41.464 --> 00:21:44.344 It can affect you, it can affect you negatively. 00:21:44.344 --> 00:21:55.387 And then friends I can't stress this enough Friendships, people for whom God has no godly purpose. 00:21:55.387 --> 00:21:57.339 You need to separate. 00:21:57.339 --> 00:22:02.204 You need to just gently let them go their own way and you go your own way. 00:22:02.204 --> 00:22:04.174 Oh, but I've known them since childhood. 00:22:04.174 --> 00:22:11.055 That doesn't mean that you should keep knowing them, doesn't mean that you should eat with them, spend time with them, go on vacation with them. 00:22:11.055 --> 00:22:11.276 Why? 00:22:11.276 --> 00:22:14.000 Because God has no godly purpose for them in your life. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.280 They may not be saved. 00:22:16.280 --> 00:22:19.040 Or if they are saved, they're not listening to what you're listening to. 00:22:19.040 --> 00:22:21.200 They can leaven you. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:27.983 They can speak things into your spirit and make a deposit in your spirit. 00:22:27.983 --> 00:22:29.146 That is negative. 00:22:30.776 --> 00:22:39.726 So guard your mouth what comes out, guard your ears what comes in In verse 25, guard your eyes, let your eyes look straight on. 00:22:39.726 --> 00:22:43.434 Say what you focus on, what you focus on. 00:22:43.434 --> 00:22:51.993 Many people have been shipwrecked by paying too much at pension and looking and desiring what doesn't belong to them. 00:22:51.993 --> 00:22:59.125 The more you hang around the wrong people, you start looking at what they have and desiring what they have, coveting what they have. 00:22:59.125 --> 00:23:00.779 Wishing you were them. 00:23:00.779 --> 00:23:03.500 Maybe they're better off than you financially, maybe they. 00:23:03.500 --> 00:23:06.835 And then you start thinking, well, here I am serving God and here they don't. 00:23:06.835 --> 00:23:09.324 And look at them they've got this, they've got that. 00:23:09.324 --> 00:23:10.900 Listen, that's a pit. 00:23:10.900 --> 00:23:12.259 You better watch out. 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:13.624 You're on the wrong road. 00:23:13.624 --> 00:23:17.104 You're on the wrong road. 00:23:17.104 --> 00:23:19.461 Let's look at Matthew 19. 00:23:19.461 --> 00:23:30.539 Talking about guarding your spirit by guarding your words, guarding your ears, what you hear, and then guarding your eyes, what you look at, what you focus on. 00:23:30.539 --> 00:23:33.962 Gotta, be so careful what you focus on. 00:23:33.962 --> 00:23:36.877 Matthew 19. 00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:52.299 Verse 16, behold, one came and said unto him good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? 00:23:52.299 --> 00:23:55.623 And he said unto him why callest thou me good? 00:23:55.623 --> 00:23:57.402 There's none good, but one, that is God. 00:23:57.402 --> 00:24:00.403 But if you will enter into life, keep the commandments. 00:24:00.403 --> 00:24:02.540 And he said unto him which? 00:24:02.540 --> 00:24:08.719 And Jesus said you shall do no murder, you shall not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness. 00:24:08.719 --> 00:24:10.203 Honor your father and your mother. 00:24:10.203 --> 00:24:11.800 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:24:11.914 --> 00:24:16.219 The young man said unto him all these things I have done from my youth up. 00:24:16.219 --> 00:24:17.844 What do I lack? 00:24:17.844 --> 00:24:19.817 What lack I? 00:24:19.817 --> 00:24:25.805 Yet Sounds like a pretty good candidate for a disciple. 00:24:25.805 --> 00:24:37.619 And Jesus said unto him if you will be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. 00:24:37.619 --> 00:24:40.440 An apostolic call. 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:44.781 He was just as called as Peter, james and John. 00:24:44.781 --> 00:24:47.417 That's what he did. 00:24:47.417 --> 00:24:48.362 It made them do. 00:24:48.362 --> 00:24:51.684 He said yeah, leave your boats, come and follow me. 00:24:51.684 --> 00:24:57.759 And he didn't say sell what you have and give it all to the poor. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:01.604 He said sell what you have and give to the poor. 00:25:01.604 --> 00:25:02.657 He didn't say give it all. 00:25:02.657 --> 00:25:04.463 It didn't say give it all. 00:25:04.463 --> 00:25:09.260 He's rich, he's a rich young ruler. 00:25:09.260 --> 00:25:18.766 And he, when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 00:25:18.766 --> 00:25:21.202 In other words, the possessions had him. 00:25:21.202 --> 00:25:25.984 I mean he wouldn't give it up to follow Jesus. 00:25:25.984 --> 00:25:28.708 He was close. 00:25:28.708 --> 00:25:29.994 He'd done all those commandments. 00:25:31.321 --> 00:25:33.734 Jesus said you know, hey, you wanna be perfect. 00:25:33.734 --> 00:25:35.375 Here's the next step. 00:25:35.375 --> 00:25:42.390 He had just as much of an apostolic call on his life as the 12. 00:25:42.390 --> 00:25:49.625 And he turned him down because of you know what he had focused on his eyes? 00:25:49.625 --> 00:25:51.209 Focused on all that wealth. 00:25:51.209 --> 00:25:56.686 So let's guard our eyes and what we're looking at. 00:25:57.295 --> 00:26:00.204 And the last one is to guard your path, or where you walk. 00:26:00.204 --> 00:26:07.548 You know, there's just that very last verse in Proverbs four, 27. 00:26:07.548 --> 00:26:11.184 Go back there and get it in front of the skin. 00:26:11.184 --> 00:26:13.394 I trust you're getting something out of this. 00:26:13.394 --> 00:26:17.688 It's probably something you've heard before, but we all need a refresher course. 00:26:17.688 --> 00:26:22.127 Ponder the path of your feet, verse 26,. 00:26:22.127 --> 00:26:22.974 Ponder the path of your feet. 00:26:22.974 --> 00:26:25.121 I guess what I pastoring. 00:26:25.162 --> 00:26:29.515 As long as I have, I've seen people make the dumbest decisions and they don't even think first. 00:26:29.515 --> 00:26:34.709 If you would think just a little bit before you did certain things, you wouldn't do them. 00:26:34.709 --> 00:26:36.875 You wouldn't go the places you go. 00:26:36.875 --> 00:26:38.933 You wouldn't be with the people you're with. 00:26:38.933 --> 00:26:44.355 Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. 00:26:44.355 --> 00:26:46.954 Turn not to the right hand or the left. 00:26:46.954 --> 00:26:48.814 Remove your foot from evil. 00:26:48.814 --> 00:26:55.550 I mean, if you find yourself in the middle of something, get yourself out of it, don't stay there. 00:26:55.550 --> 00:26:59.555 I mean, there's just some places that you should never go. 00:26:59.775 --> 00:27:01.575 I was talking to a young man one time. 00:27:01.575 --> 00:27:03.340 He had a. 00:27:03.340 --> 00:27:12.553 He had a working for a large corporation in marketing and his job was to take people to lunch and entertain and all that. 00:27:12.553 --> 00:27:16.031 That's pretty nice, pretty dangerous for a Christian. 00:27:16.031 --> 00:27:27.434 For a Christian, because I'm telling you right now, they're not looking for donuts, you know, they're not looking for Mickey D's, they want booze and they want women. 00:27:27.434 --> 00:27:34.555 I live in the real world to you, and this young man had figured out a way to compromise. 00:27:34.555 --> 00:27:42.028 He said, well, I take them over here to such and such a place, and of course I know that's what they want and that's my job. 00:27:42.028 --> 00:27:44.355 And I just shook my head, I didn't say anything. 00:27:44.355 --> 00:27:46.071 I think you know he didn't ponder the path of his feet. 00:27:46.071 --> 00:27:59.147 See, what he'd have been better off doing is resigning his position and finding something else to do, rather than compromise your, your walk and going into ungodly places like that. 00:27:59.147 --> 00:28:05.954 So, uh, these places assault your ears and your eyes and flame wrong desires. 00:28:05.954 --> 00:28:10.875 So guard your spirit and Zoe will reward you. 00:28:10.875 --> 00:28:15.734 It'll be super abundant in your life in quantity and superior in quality. 00:28:15.734 --> 00:28:18.906 Lift your hands and receive. 00:28:18.906 --> 00:28:22.192 Guarding your heart or your spirit, I should say amen. 00:28:22.192 --> 00:28:25.334 I trust you got something out of that tonight. 00:28:25.334 --> 00:28:28.711 Hallelujah, lord of God.