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Above all Else (February 8, 2026)

• Organic Church • Season 3 • Episode 4

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Ever feel wrung out even when nothing “big” happened? We dig into why so many of us aren’t doing too much—we’re letting too much in—and how guarding the heart can change everything from our reactions to our relationships. Anchored in Proverbs 4:23, we unpack the link between a protected inner life and the direction of your future, and we get specific about the daily choices that either protect peace or invite chaos.

We talk through the difference between mental noise and emotional health, and why the enemy aims to drain you privately when he can’t derail you publicly. You’ll hear how feelings can be honest indicators yet terrible commanders, why love is a covenant and not just a mood, and how unforgiveness quietly sabotages your calling. With honest stories and practical steps, we show how to stop overreacting and start responding, how to filter what you feel instead of feeding it, and how to quit replaying narratives that make people the villain and your feelings the facts.

Jesus modeled boundaries. He slipped away to pray while everyone wanted more, moved on when it was time, and didn’t explain himself to every voice in the crowd. We explore biblical boundaries without guilt, discernment that decides distance, and the freedom of loving people without giving them front-row access to your soul. You’ll learn why bad company corrupts good character, how to practice mental discipline that shifts the atmosphere, and how to let the peace of Christ act as the “umpire” of your heart—calling what stays, what goes, and what ends now.

If your inner life needs a reset, this conversation offers clarity, courage, and concrete tools. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs peace today, and leave a review to tell us which boundary you’re setting first.

SPEAKER_00:

Father, I thank you for hearing the hearts of those who approached the altar this morning. Lord, as they cried out unto you, I believe that you heard every word and you made meaningful change inside of their hearts today. But Lord, right now I want to pray for those who sat in their seats stubborn. Father, for those who didn't believe the word that was spoken, Father, touch their hearts, soften them, allow them to understand the importance of that still small voice in their lives. Father, that they may be able to hear and believe what it is that you're calling them to. So that you may lead them into everlasting life. Father, I thank you for the word that's going to be delivered. I thank you for the classroom workers today, Lord. I pray that you move mightily among our midst. Father, just allow us to continue to give you praise, honor, and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. And the church says, Amen. You may be seated and we'll let the kids head back to class. So it's been a burden on my heart, and it's something that I felt like it was time to share. So I wanted to share with you something that I think we all need to begin to understand. We all need to start focusing on. And it's something that I think we oftentimes neglect because we are ignorant to it and because we choose to ignore it when it is brought to our attention. Can I tell you that today we need to talk about guarding our hearts? Amen. You know, we talk a lot about guarding things in our lives. You know, we lock down buildings all the time. If you try to go to the kids' ministry side right now, you can't get through there. Like you'd need to hook a chain to that door to your pickup truck to yank the doors open. But we did that for a reason, right? Because to us, our kids are incredibly valuable and we want them to be safe. Amen. We do the same thing to our houses. How many of us have security cameras at our house? Right? In this day and age, you almost have to, right? You've got security cameras, you probably lock your doors. Now, me, my keys are in my car all the time. It's probably probably hanging in the ignition right now as we speak. If somebody drove away with my car, I couldn't even say they stole it. I'd be like, nah, I gave it to them. Right? I can't even argue at this point. But here's the thing: we talk about it, we lock our doors, we set alarms, we install cameras, we do all of those things. But the most valuable thing that each and every one of us have, we carry every day, and oftentimes it is not protected at all. Oftentimes we go into the world completely vulnerable to what the world would have us believe because our hearts go completely unguarded. Here's what I've learned, and I've learned this the hard way. If the enemy cannot destroy you publicly, he will drain you privately. Y'all, I'm tired. Right? I got to the point where I didn't allow the enemy to destroy me publicly, and I walk in the world standing tall, head held high, right? And anything that the enemy has said about me doesn't matter because I know who I am in Christ. Yes? Okay, but here's the problem. Then I go home and I'm exhausted from playing this part, then I don't necessarily believe. We talked about it last week, right? It's hard to allow yourself to forgive yourself for things that have happened. It's hard to believe that you are worthy of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ because we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. Here's the problem: if he can't stop your calling, he will always sabotage your emotional health. Now, I was gonna use mental health. I chose not to. I said emotional health instead of mental health. Why is that? Because mental health sometimes is we just look at it as like I think I'm not good enough. But sometimes it's your emotional health. You're tired, right? You're exhausted, you feel worn out because day in and day out you are constantly trying to prove that you are a bloodbought child of the Almighty when really there's nothing left to prove. But we find ourselves driving so hard to get to that point that we wear ourselves out emotionally. This is not a message about becoming cold, it's not about pushing people away, it's about learning how to protect what God has entrusted to you. If your heart goes unprotected, it will, without a doubt, become a battlefield. And you will constantly be struggling with matters of the heart from day one, inside and out. You will never be able to escape the constant battle that you will feel inside of your heart. And I want to tell you that is not what the Bible has told us to do. Now, we're gonna jump around a little bit this morning. We're gonna try to hit all of my points. I've got plenty of time, so as long as I don't get sidetracked, we're gonna be perfectly fine. Proverbs 423. And it says, guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Leave that up there. It says, guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. The Bible is specific about what we are supposed to do. Notice the language, it says, guard above all else. Right? Above all other things in your life, you should be guarding your heart because it determines the course of your life. If you have a hard heart, you are not going to live a good life, right? And you're going to blame everybody else for the things that happen in your life because your heart is so hard you can't realize it is your own undoing. Right? I'll tell you, there are times when I go through trials and the Lord puts a test in front of me and I say, Lord, I don't understand. And he says, It's because you won't listen. Right? Can we understand that? That sometimes the biggest obstacle to being in relationship with Jesus is our own unwillingness to forget and let go of the things that we're holding on to. Amen. Listen, I got a lot of stuff. I was thinking about it the other day, and I was like, I could probably start, I should start making a list of the things that I know I'm holding on to, so then I can work on letting go of those things. And I got to about the fifth or sixth one, and I'm like, these are too big. Right? I this is stuff that I don't know if I can ever truly let it go. And I just kept thinking about it, and then the more I thought about it, the more stressed out I got, and the more worried I got, and the more worried I got, the more angry I became, and I realized what I just said to you is that if he can't, if the enemy can't destroy you in public, he will drain you in private. See, I thought the Lord was saying, work on these things, but the enemy was saying, I want to bring these back to the surface because you're doing something that I don't want you to do. The last thing I need is for you to have a clear heart. Because if you have a clear heart, the enemy has no use of you because he knows that you're now living for Jesus. And so, listen, I just told on myself, did you hear what I said? Listen, if I hold on to unforgiveness, how is Jesus going to be able to use me? How will he be able to use me? Now I can shove it all down, right? It's like a trash compactor. Pack it all down into the bottom nice and tight and pretend like I don't think about it. Have you guys ever seen those towels at the Dollar Tree? You put water on them and they expand. I felt like I put a little bit of water on that and it just like it blew up, and all of the sudden, all of these things are consuming me. And I realized that the enemy was trying to drain me in private through something that I thought God was trying to do in my life. And I had to, I had to decide in that moment do I guard my heart from the things that don't matter, or do I allow the enemy to have a place in my house, in my heart, in my life, and continue to drain me? That's a hard decision to make and it's a hard realization. Oftentimes we are sitting in those situations and we don't even realize what's going on, right? Have you ever met somebody that complains about everything? Whew. Ain't nothing good ever happened in their life. You could give them a million dollars and they'd be mad because it wasn't in hundred dollar bills. Right? Well, I have to count all of this. There are people who are like that. And the problem is they will always be like that until they meet Jesus. Because there is no greater understanding of the good things in your life until you truly know who Jesus is. It says guard above all else, and that tells me two things. That tells me that your heart is valuable. Jesus wants your heart, it is valuable, but is also vulnerable. If he is telling you to guard it, there's a reason. You know, there's a reason we guard gold, right? If you got a lot of gold, you keep it somewhere safe. And you don't typically tell people about it because you don't want people trying to steal it, right? You guard it because it is valuable. Well, if he is telling me to guard my heart, then I know it is valuable and it is vulnerable. Everything in your life flows out of your heart. Can we believe that? Yes, everything in your life flows out of your heart, your decisions, your reactions, your relationships, and your direction. The enemy, if he is given the ability, will influence your heart and he can ultimately influence your future. Some of us are sitting here going, the enemy never has never had that kind of power in my life. And I'm saying to you, if you're saying that out loud to yourself, he probably has. And he may very well right now. Because I'm gonna tell you, if people think that pastors are perfect. I have learned a long time ago, I am far from it, right? I struggle with the same things you guys struggle with. I live in the same world that you live in. Amen. But the if the enemy can come into my house in my bedroom and convince me that I am not good enough, I assure you, he can and will do it to each and every one of you. He's not gonna let you don't get to walk away just because, unless, of course, you're already living for the enemy, he has no reason to come to you. Right? So if the enemy is not attacking you, I have a question, and it's do you know Jesus? Because the enemy has no use of you, he doesn't need to bother you if you aren't truly following Jesus. Some of us are exhausted not because we are doing too much. Are you ready? It's because we're letting too much in. That's me, right there. I always feel tired, but it's not because I do too much. I could run all day long and never get tired. It's because I'm constantly letting new things in. There is constantly something pouring into my brain. Sometimes it's conversations I don't want to have. Thank you, Jesus. Right? And what I mean by that is somebody, Pastor Michael, did you hear, did you know, did you see? No, I didn't, and I didn't care to. And there's a reason. Because if I allow that into my life, it takes up space in my heart, space in my mind that cannot be filled with godly things. Right? There are people who don't have access to me for a reason. I cut off access so that I don't have to deal with the stress that comes with that. The emotional torment that comes with that. If you haven't felt emotional torment, let me tell you, you're missing out. It's a fun ride. You want to talk about tired. Emotional torment is a new level of tired. I'm not talking like you're in a pit and you're the gnashing of teeth, and I'm not talking that kind of torment. I'm talking like when you wake up, you think about that person and you're like, oh, I really hate them. Oh God, if that person looks at me today, Lord, you better give me patience because if you give me strength, I'm going to prison. Lord, do not put that. Oh Lord, that is emotional torment. Now it's not always that, it doesn't always appear that way. Sometimes the emotional torment shows us I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy, right? And you're in this constant state of thinking about things that are not godly. That emotional torment will kill you. If it doesn't kill you in real life, if it doesn't kill the physical body, it will kill you spiritually. It will kill you, and I'm talking kill you dead. You won't be able to function in the spirit. Lord, when I go, when when those days come and I go to prayer, I'm I don't even know if the Lord hears me. I don't even know if I'm making sense. Here's what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful that God knows my heart and he knows that's not where I want to be, and he can change that at a moment's notice. That God can take me and he can rearrange me and he can take that that that whining, as as Don would say, that whining, miserable sound, and turn it into something fruitful. Amen. Stop it. Not everything that feels good is good for you. Right? There are a lot of things in life that feel good. But can I tell you that everything that feels good is not always good for you? Jeremiah 17, 9. It says, the human heart, ready? It's the reason we're supposed to guard it. The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? The human heart is the most deceitful of all things. This is a theory that I have. Not everybody agrees with it. I don't really care. It's just my theory, okay? I don't believe that love is a feeling. Right? I believe that love is a commitment that you make to somebody, it's a covenant you make with somebody before God, right? Now I'm not saying that when I see my wife, my heart doesn't pitter patter. Right? I'm not saying that when I see my wife, I don't think to myself, I am madly in love with this one. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying though is if I believe that love is simply a feeling, and I know that my heart is deceitful, I will fall in love with people who can give me things. Right? I will fall in love with people, and I don't mean like Mary fall in love with, but I will I will fawn over people and I will dote over people who I believe can give me things because your heart is deceitful. Your heart has convinced you that this person can provide. Amen. This person can give you something. Your feelings are real. Are you ready? But they are not reliable leaders. Everybody has feelings and we should all feel them, right? If somebody hurts your feelings, you're allowed to have hurt feelings. Move on. Pick up and move on. Because if you allow that feeling to consume you, Jesus Christ cannot. Your feeling is flesh, it is not spiritual. Now, do you feel things in the spirit? Certainly. People who are deeply prophetic feel things in the spirit. That is not most of us. Most of us feel things in our feelings, in our in our flesh, and then we boo-hoo and we cry about it because we think somehow that's going to change the outcome. Can I promise you it's not gonna change the outcome? All it's gonna do is make the outcome worse because you're still not gonna get what you want and you're gonna be miserable, and then you're gonna blame God for it. Because it is easier to blame God than it is to take accountability for ourselves. Feelings are great indicators, but they are they are terrible commanders. If you let emotions lead, you will always overreact, you will always over-attach, you will always overexplain, and you will always overextend. What does that mean? If you're gonna overextend, I don't mean financially. A lot of us overextend financially, right? Listen, it's stuff that happens in our lives, we make poor decisions. But what I mean is you're gonna overextend emotionally, and then you will have no bandwidth when you need to pour out emotionally, right? I I went through a situation one time where somebody called me and told me some news, and and I was not pastoral in my response. I wasn't mean, but I was not pastoral in my response. Now, mind you, I was at work and I was busy, but it's not an excuse, right? Because this is my theory. A lot of people pick on me and kind of laugh and poke fun at the fact that sometimes it's three to five business days to get a response from me in a text message, right? If you've ever texted me and you know you don't get a response right away, a lot of times it's because I'm doing something else and I owe it to you to give you my full attention, right? And so if I just quickly respond, oftentimes it is not spirit led, it's my flesh, right? And that response is not always gentle. That's a great word. Politically correct, maybe like I know that that is a shortcoming of mine, and so I have to focus on that, but I cannot allow myself to overextend because spiritual maturity is learning when to feel something without feeding it, right? Have you ever felt something and then fed it? How many of you like little shop of horrors? Feed Missy Moa, right? You got this little plant, and we keep feeding it blood, and pretty soon it's a giant plant, and we're feeding it whole people. How many of I I have fed my feelings whole people before? Right? Listen, I'm upset with somebody, you know what I do? I tell somebody else about it. Right? And I'm like, listen, I don't like that person, then you shouldn't like me either. Because if I don't like them and you like them, then I don't know if I can like you. Like, I don't know. I'm just I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just saying. Right? We've been there, and then we're feeding this monster, whole people. My feelings are not that valuable. Amen. If my feelings were that valuable, they would be good feelings and not bad feelings. They would be feelings of joy and of peace, not feelings of regret and hate and disdain. Amen. Okay, whoo. Jesus modeled boundaries and he was perfect. Right? If Jesus, a perfect man, can say, I've got boundaries, we as imperfect people can certainly say. Thank you. Somebody was paying attention. Mark 135. It says, before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Later, Simon and the others went out to find him. When they found him, they said, Everyone is looking for you. Anyone ever felt that? That's a Sunday morning in this building for me. It doesn't matter where I go, somebody is looking for me for something. Can you do this? Can you do that? Hey, what if I need? Hey, is there any chance you can? Hey, I was thinking about no, stop, I don't want to think about anything else, right? I love you, but leave me alone. Right? Moms or moms feel this. You're outtouched, right? My wife is home with my kids literally 24-7. Okay, so she went prom dress shopping yesterday. And she said to me, she said, Hey, uh, are you good if if I go prom dress shopping? Not that my wife's going to prom, by the way. She was taking my oldest son's girlfriend. Anyhow, long story. Don't get confused by that. If she was smart, she would have a much never mind. Stop. Jesus. Jesus. Anyhow. So she said, I'm gonna go out. The shop that they went to was closed and they needed to go to Canton. My wife called me and she says, Hey, are you good if I go to Canton? Now, this is something that I don't want you guys to feel like I'm a baby and my wife has to check in with me or that I'm can't. That's not what I'm saying. My wife and I have such a great relationship that that's how we treat one another, right? Like if I'm leaving work and I'm coming to the church, I'll call her. Do you need anything before I go to the church? Sometimes she says, yes, can you stop and grab whatever? Sometimes she says, no, I'll see you tonight. But it's out of respect that we do that for one another. And I said, no, you're fine. Go. I've already done the dishes. I've already mopped the floors. I've already it's true. It's true. I've already done a load of laundry. I know, I know. I guys, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus. I'm just saying this is what I did. Okay? This is what I did. I said, and if you listen, now I'm gonna really get you guys. I said, if you tell me what you want me to make for dinner, I'll cook tonight too. Right? And she said, hamburgers and mac and cheese, can you do that? And I said, absolutely. Right? So she comes home. Not only had I done the dishes the first time, but I did the dishes after. Dinner too. What? Right? Okay, so my kids are sitting at the dining room table and they say to me, Dad, it's weird that mom's not here. My wife never gets time alone. She doesn't get adult time where she just spends time with grown people. There is always a child, ours or somebody else's, on the heels, right? It's true. No, there's nothing wrong with that. My wife loves our children and she loves being around them. But there is something to say for value in being alone, right? But moms, do you ever get so overstimulated, overtouched? Don't look at me, don't speak to me. If you say mom one more time, right? It's and moms, if you aren't saying it's true, I get it. You don't want people to think bad about you. But I promise you, every mom has thought it at least once in their life. Okay? But what I'm saying is, all of us get overstimulated in that way. Jesus said, I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna go somewhere else, and I'm gonna spend time in the presence of my father. Because if I stay here, these people are gonna nag and they're gonna touch and they're gonna beg and they're gonna need of me all of the time. Amen. And can I promise you that I'm sure Jesus would have loved to have been able to sit and have coffee and chat with everyone, but Jesus needed to be in the presence of the Father alone, in quiet, in peace. I realize that so many of us don't truly take that time. But Jesus was needed, Jesus was loved, Jesus was in demand, and yet he chose to withdraw to a place on his own. Can I tell you that boundaries are not selfish? They're biblical. Boundaries are not if I say to you no more, it's not because I don't love you. It's because I have to set a boundary to be safe in my own heart. In my relationship with Jesus, in my relationship with the Father, I need to know that my heart is safe. Because guarding my heart above all things is important. Because if I want to be able to pour out to the people around me, I have to make sure that my heart is guarded, that my heart is prep is prepared and ready for whatever it is that the world is going to throw at me. Jesus did not heal everyone, he did not explain himself to everyone. The Bible tells us that he spoke in parables. He told the disciples, he spoke in parables so that some would understand and that others would not. Right? He didn't explain himself to every person that he came in contact with. He did not stay everywhere that he was welcome. Jesus moved on. If he needed boundaries, then why do we think that we don't? Now I'm not trying to convince you that Jesus was pushing people away. That's not what I'm saying to you. What I'm saying is, is Jesus knew when to cut it off. He knew when to move on, he knew when to shake the dust from his feet and continue to carry on. Ministry in a single place does not give us that uh exact same favor week after week, right? Because a lot of people know when they come into the building, they can usually find me sitting back there in that chair or hiding in the council room. And what happens? Pastor Michael, can you hey I need what if we hey, can we stop think for a second? If you had to allow the anointing to flow through you, do those distractions help or hinder the flow of the spirit and the move of the spirit? Because when the anointing begins to rest, and it's why I disconnect myself during worship service. I disconnect myself because I want to be able to center on what God is going to do in this place. Jesus had boundaries. We all have to have boundaries in order to keep ourselves safe and honestly sane. Some people have access and other people have limits. Matthew 7, 6, it says, Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Ready, ready? They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy. They will trample the pearls and then turn and attack you. Not everyone deserves your vulnerability, your emotional energy, or your spiritual insight. When you meet people who are draining you constantly, cut them off. When you are meeting people who are constantly receiving and taking and sucking and draining and they're never giving, I don't mean just to you, because there are some people who just leech and leech and leech and leech and they they just drain you. And you look at them and you think, hopefully they're pouring into somebody else, right? You know, the wild part for me, Miss Vicky's not here, is she? I I do this a lot, and I don't ever mean I do it to her because I love her so very much. But um, she wears ugly sweaters. No, I'm kidding, I didn't. That was okay. Some of you caught it. Uh she texts me pretty regularly and says, Hey, I just want you to know I love you. Thinking about you. Right? She doesn't just take. It's not always a take, it's a give. Right? There's always a pouring back. Now, to her, it might feel like a very small deed, but to me it means so much. I'm not saying that because I want all of you to do that, because honestly, I'm gonna ignore your text messages. I'm gonna that sounded mean. I'm gonna receive it. I'm gonna receive your love, all right? But I'm probably not get 70 people sending me a text every day. I love you, Patrick. That's not what I want. What I'm saying is that she does it genuinely, out of desire, not out of force, not out of uh obligation. And it means something to me that she does that. She is always trying to pour back in rather than just receiving. But there are people who will not do that, they don't deserve your vulnerability, your emotional energy, or your spiritual insight. Discernment, spiritual discernment will decide the distance. Right? Now I tell you, we can love people at an arm's distance. I can love you, but I don't have to fellowship with you. I can love you, but I can keep to myself. That's perfectly healthy to do. Okay? I don't have to hold hands with you in order to love you. I don't have to be able to sit in a circle and sing kumbaya in order to love you. I can love you from a distance, and there are people that I love that I haven't seen in a long, long time. But my my heart always says to me, hey, you need to make sure that they understand how much you love them. And then you have to decide through discernment, through through logic, what does that look like? A lot of times it's not a phone call. Because I've learned that when you make that phone call, now you're in a 45-minute conversation that's draining you rather than providing the life that you intended to provide. Amen. You can love people without letting them drain you, and you can forgive people without giving them front row access to your life. You ever been there? I've been there. Lord, I'm gonna lay this down at your feet because I can't handle it any longer. Lord, I forgive them, bless them, touch their heart, Lord, and allow them to know that I love them. But Lord, keep them away. Allow me to have peace, patience. Lord, guide me and direct me in all situations. Those types of things will allow you to truly walk away from things that are draining you and hurting you. Now I need to tell you this though. Bad company, anybody's ever heard of that band, that 80s band? Sorry, that was not where I was going with that. Bad company is a heart issue, not just a habit issue, right? What I mean by that is some of us have a bad habit of being in bad company, right? And even once you've realized you're in bad company, you continue to be in the presence of said bad company, right? And you allow them to drain you. That is not just a habit issue. Sometimes it is a heart issue as well. 1 Corinthians 15, 33. It says, bad it says, don't be fooled by those who say such things for bad for bad company corrupts good character. For bad company corrupts good character. Now, this is a hard issue because we allow ourselves or we we convince ourselves that we can go sit in the presence of bad company. Remember, I told you guys last week how I used to think that if I went out and smoked, I could minister to people and that somehow that worked. Bad company corrupts good character. If my character matters, and it should, amen. Because if I I should be a living, breathing testimony to the goodness of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Amen. And so if I'm truly allowing that and I put myself in bad company and I allow myself in bad situations, it will corrupt the good character that I wish to portray. Amen. We capture their rebellious thoughts and we teach them that we don't need to obey Christ's commandments. Right? We are capturing the things that they're doing, and then the next thing we know, we're living in it and we're talking, and then we're their first phone call when they want to talk about that. Right? When they want to say something bad about somebody with their first phone call. Not every thought is yours, not every thought is true, and ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for a surprise? Not every thought is from God. It's true. We will think things that the enemy has convinced us to think about ourselves, about somebody else, about situations, about about life circumstances, and we will continue to think that those are true because they popped into our head. Can can I tell you something? You are the best liar to yourself. Right? You can convince yourself anything. You might not be able to convince anybody else, but you can convince yourself. Listen, there are people that I love that will call me and they will say things to me, and I'm like, that doesn't that math does not math. Right? You may have convinced yourself that that is true, but you aren't fooling anybody else. You are not fooling anybody else. Spiritual authority, which comes with spiritual maturity, includes mental discipline. Right? So that means when I have that thought, rather than rather than allowing it to take control of my mind and my day and allow me to be ruined. Listen, I had a bad day at work the other day, guys. I can do things in my job that most other people in my position can't do. Okay? And so I had this one guy, he called me, he's like, hey, I need a favor, I need this paperwork done quick, and the people who would normally do it are both busy. Can you do it for me? He can't do it. I can. And I said, Yeah, sure. So I did it, and he called me, he's like, It's wrong. And I'm like, it's exactly what you gave me. It's like I did exactly. He's like, Well, I I just made a spelling error, I need you to correct it. So I correct it, he calls me again, he says it's still wrong. He's like, There's a number on there that's wrong. And I was like, Oh Lord, it's an hour every time I do it, and you have to start over every time. We should have caught that mistake the first time, right? And so I'm becoming frustrated. Now I sit at a desk in the middle of the lobby, and what have I always told you? I am a thermostat. I set the temperature in the room, right? By lunchtime, throw my mouse, and I'm like, I'm going home for lunch. And I storm out of the building, I come back, everybody's in a bad mood. I come back and I'm fine, I'm over it, right? Walk back in, I'm like, you guys are grumpy. What is going on? Like, what happened to you guys? They're like, dude, you've done nothing but complain all day. And I was like, Lord, straighten me out. Right? Like, this wasn't a big deal. Why was I being so and I didn't have anything else to do all day. I was just sitting there watching Netflix. Tough way to make a living, folks. Tough way to make I'm just watching Netflix, right? I'm watching all these documentaries and all I didn't have anything to do, but here I am angry at something so silly. But see, I allowed my feelings to sit the temperature of the people around me. And oftentimes that's what we do when we become frustrated or angry or disappointed. How many of us have ever been disappointed? I'm not mad, I'm disappointed. Dads, we say that to our kids a lot, right? Because with my kids, mad doesn't work, they don't care. Whatever, you can be mad. But if I say I'm really disappointed that you would do that, it somehow crushes their little souls, right? Like they they cry and they weep and they I'm like, listen, it doesn't mean I don't love you, but you we gotta get this right. There's something about that feeling that almost hurts more than somebody being angry at you, right? And so as I think about that, we allow those feelings to consume us and then consume the people around us. You don't have to obey every feeling, you have to filter those feelings, run it through your emotional brita. Nobody has a brita, apparently. We just all filter our water from the refrigerator now. We're fancy people here. Jeez. Peace is a boundary enforcer. Colossians 3:15. It says, let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. The word rule means act as the umpire. Amen. Allow the allow that peace that comes from Christ to rule in our hearts. Allow that peace to determine what is good and what is bad, get rid of the bad and keep the good. Amen. Those are the things that we have to get better at. Peace decides what stays, what goes, what continues, and what ends. If it keeps stealing your peace, then it doesn't deserve access. If my heart is truly guarded, if it is not bringing me peace, it does not have access. Now, I want to be clear, I keep pointing to my physical heart, right? I don't think this is me. Maybe I maybe my body is different. I don't know. I don't feel hurt here most times. I feel it in my stomach, like something's just not right. Something, I don't know. That person said that and my it just didn't sit right, right? It's like indigestion, but it's for people and not food. Is there any way you can get your emotional gallbladder removed? Right? Because I realize when I'm in the presence of certain people, emotionally, I'm not stabilized. And when you start to discern that and you start to put your finger on what it is about that person, you realize very quickly it's because they don't bring you peace, they bring you chaos. And when they bring you chaos, you become frustrated, and now you're consumed with frustration and anger. And we're talking about it, and we're telling people, and we're creating this balloon or this cloud of chaos. Sometimes people will say, Well, there's this, there's this spirit of whatever. A lot of times it's in your orbit and not in everybody else's. You just tend to carry it with you, and so you think it's everywhere. Um, it's kind of like the little cloud that hangs over Olaf in Frozen. For those of us who have seen that movie, you know what I mean? Like it just it's constantly over you, and you can't figure out why you can't get out of it. It's because you don't have peace in your heart. It's because you have not found peace in Jesus Christ. Guarding your heart produces stability. Isaiah 26, 3. It says, You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. A guarded heart responds instead of reacts. Yes. Do you understand what that means? So listen, I react sometimes. A lot of times, right? So sometimes somebody will say something to me. Listen, one time Jenny was at my house and she said something to me. I came completely unglued. Like popped up off the couch and was screaming and stomping. That is not a lie. That really happened, right? I wasn't mad at her, I was mad at the situation, and I was immediately infuriated, right? When you have peace in your heart, when you have peace in your heart, you respond and you don't react. What I mean is I could have processed that and said, I understand what you're saying, and I could have dealt with it internally rather than becoming enraged, right? But can I tell you there are some things that as a pastor will create a righteous anger inside of you and where you just want to pick people up by the seat of their pants and throw them? It's not okay. I'm what I'm saying is that righteous anger is different than just regular anger. I'm not sure what that one was. It was probably a little bit of both. But anyhow, it doesn't matter. It will teach you to respond instead of react. It will teach you to discern instead of assume. Can I drive this one home, folks? Stop assuming what people think about you. Stop assuming that there are people who don't like you or people who do like you because sometimes they don't, right? Don't assume that what you say to somebody stays with somebody. I always assume the worst in those situations, and I have to choose who I share certain things with because I know oftentimes they will end up in the ears of somebody else. Stand firm instead of burning out. Yes? What does that mean? That means that when bad things come to you, you stand strong and you don't allow those things to wear you out. I promise you this. I said it to Pastor Holly, as fast as it comes, it will go. It's hard to believe that sometimes when you're standing in the midst of whatever that chaos is, but I promise you, as fast as it comes, it will go. Now hear that. If you've allowed it to live in your life for 10 years, it can take 10 years for it to go from your life, right? It will come as fast as it goes, it will not come go faster than it came. It will go as fast as. Meaning that sometimes you're gonna have to live with it for a minute and you're just gonna have to shake it out, right? Stand firm, don't grow weary. This is not about walls, it's not it. This is more about wisdom, it's not about isolation, it's about intentional access, right? Just like if most of you tried to go over and get into the kids' side of the building, you couldn't get in. There are a limited number of people who have access to those children. It is intentional access, right? Your heart should have intentional access. Guard your heart in what you watch, guard your heart in who you trust, guard your heart in what you carry, guard your heart in what you replay in your mind. Can I tell you? And I've told you before, I had to make an adjustment in my life. I love I think I'm funny. My wife does not agree with me. I think I'm funny. And sometimes when I tell a story, I tell it like I remember it happening. Right? Is that a fair statement? When I was there, this happened this way. But if you talk to the other person that was there, they're like, well, it wasn't quite like that, right? I have had to learn that storytelling does not come from my point of view, it comes from an objective point of view. I said, they said, this happened, that happened. Not I felt like. Right? Because if when you said that, I felt angry, and that's how I tell the story, now I'm making you look like the bad guy. When really it's my heart posture, really, it's about how I perceive things. Amen. So be careful how you replay those things in your life. What you protect today will determine where you stand tomorrow. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you and I praise you for moving in our lives today. Lord, I pray that this word fell upon cultivated hearts, Father God. It fell upon ears that we're prepared to hear. Lord, I know that sometimes these messages feel heavy in the moment, but Lord, I know that you have guided this message to speak. Speak to your people today. Father, I know you guided this message so it would speak to my heart today. Allow there to be restoration in my heart. Allow the crumbling walls to be rebuilt, Father God. Your name above all names. Lord, when I think of the situations that have hurt me, Father, I pray that you remind me just how good you are in all things. Father, I pray that we will continue to protect our hearts. I pray that we will be continuously led into a better tomorrow. And that, Father, we won't hold on to unforgiveness. We'll create healthy boundaries, Lord. We'll seek you first above all things. In that moment of waiting, in that quiet time, Father, listening for that still small voice. Father, I thank you and I praise you. I give you honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. And the church says, Amen. Love you guys. We'll see you Wednesday night.