Like a Soccer Goalie

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Transcript

Welcome And The World Cup Hook

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in the Word. I'm Ronnie Cooksey. Well, as I'm recording this, the World Cup is winding down, and many of us Americans have found a new interest in soccer as Team USA made it pretty far this year.

The Goalie Picture For Proverbs

SPEAKER_00 0:20

But there's a great picture there in soccer with the goalie in today's text. We've seen some amazing goalies who have stopped ball after ball after ball, doing everything they can, flailing their body one way and the other, and diving through midair in order to protect that

Proverbs 4:23 And The Why

SPEAKER_00 0:38

goal. Well, listen to what Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23 says. We looked last time at the three verses before this one, talking about putting God's word into our heart, and now we look at this admonition, encouragement about what to keep out of our heart.

Information Overload And Heart Inputs

SPEAKER_00 1:02

We are bombarded with information. The studies show that we input about 34 gigabytes of information per day. We hear or read about a hundred thousand words a day. That's equivalent to the content of the book, The Hobbit, every day. So with all of that wanting to go into our minds, into our hearts, what are we going to let in and what are we going to keep out? And so God gives us this instruction to be like that soccer goalie and to be looking. What am I letting into my heart? Why? To be legalistic, to check off a box, to just appear a certain way. No, for joy and to glorify God, because what goes into our heart affects our life and affects the way that we think and feel and act and will keep us either close to the Lord or far from the Lord. And so it's a matter of having faith that it's worth it to seek to let God help us keep our heart clean. Now we're forgiven because of the cross if we've come to know Christ as Savior, but this is to really experience the joy of the Christian life.

River Spring Image And Pink Elephant

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So all day long, everything's trying to get into our heart lustful thoughts, angry thoughts, self-pity thoughts, discouraging thoughts, greedy thoughts, selfish thoughts, rebellious thoughts, discouraging thoughts, depressive thoughts, and on and on and on. So we've got to be filling up that place with the scripture and to see where do we need to place limits or guardrails on our life to keep the wrong things out the best we can. Now we can't uh keep everything from flying at us, but we can keep it from being able to nest in our hearts. Psalm nineteen seven says the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring our soul, and so using that word to keep washing out the things that do get in, but seeing what we can do. What are the things, the disciplines we can put into our life to not just put the word in, but to keep the world out, our spiritual heart. Several summers ago I got to see the head of the Metolius River near Sisters, Oregon. Beautiful, beautiful. It comes out of the basin of Black Butte Mountain, crystal clear and beautiful. But imagine if you were to dump millions and millions of pounds of red food coloring right there where it emerges. I wonder how far the red water would make it before diluting fully. Too far. And so it is with the spring of our heart. You say, well, it doesn't really affect me, the things that I let into my mind and in my heart. Well, as I continue, I just want you to do me a favor. Don't think about a pink elephant. I mean, whatever you do, don't be thinking about a pink elephant. Just don't even let the image come to mind. Well, that's silly, of course, but we can't help but think about the things that we let into our minds, the things that we watch, read, uh, listen, all of these things. Again, it's not legalism, it's about joy in the Christian

Rotten Egg Warning And Practical Guardrails

SPEAKER_00 4:00

life. What if I could make you an omelet? I don't know if you like eggs, I love eggs. I'm gonna make you an omelet with six eggs, a big omelette. Now, there is gonna be one rotten egg, but I mean there's five great eggs, so don't worry about it. Well, that's silly too. You say, I'm very worried about that. Yes, we want to do what we can by God's grace to guard our heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life, and oh that from our hearts would flow springs of clean spiritual water. Why because we are better than everyone else? No, because we've discovered the joy of putting God's word in and working by his grace imperfectly to keep the world's ways out, and when we discover they're in, bail them out like you do water out at the bottom of a boat. Get it out, and the best shovel to bail with is God's Word.

Joyful Closing And Next Time

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God bless you, and I will look forward to seeing you back here next time.