The Preparations of the Heart - Proverbs 16:1

0:00Hey Internet, X live is working again. So I'm back. Here's your proverb for today. It's Proverbs chapter 16 verse 1. It says, the preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Jesus Christ. Appropriations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Jesus Christ. Right now there's a lot of noise. Right now there's more noise and there's been in a long time, maybe since COVID first hit. What are they distracting us from? That's part of the noise. If you look carefully, you got people saying that Iran isn't the issue, the dollar's the issue, crypto's the issue, AI's the issue, Japan's the issue. There are so much noise and so much fear, so much distraction. This is where the Proverbs are so

1:06helpful because they're stable. They don't move. They use words that stay those words over time. The ways, excuse me, the preparations of the heart belong to man. Why are you scrolling X? What are you looking for? Why do you check Facebook? What are you looking for in your email inbox? You're preparing your heart. My saying is wrong to prepare your heart. I am going to say right now the tools they've given us to prepare our hearts are not very trustworthy tools. They're incredibly powerful and they're incredibly deceptive. But preparing your heart, you're seeking for comfort, you're seeking for peace, you're looking for integrity, you're trying to find a way to stand or trying to find a story that you can trust. That is your task. The preparations of the heart belong to man. That's your job to see, to call it like you see it, to bear witness, to hear the witnesses of others, to discern whether or not through those witnesses the truth is being spoken.

2:09The preparations of the heart belong to man. As you think about what to say, as you consider how to give voice to what you believe, that is all your work and then the answer of the tongue is from Jesus. You ever say something you didn't think you're going to say? You ever try to say something that came out completely wrong? That's not what I meant. That's a chance to repent usually, but the driving factor here is that God is the one who is in charge of everything. And even your tongue, if you want to tame your tongue, if you want to get better at not giving voice to mistake, if you want to get better at not being pulled into this, that other thing that you'd rather not be a part of, the answer isn't more heart preparation. The answer isn't more effort, the answer isn't more willpower, the answer isn't some sort of stoicism or mysticism. The answer is to call on Jesus who is worthy to be praised, and social, you'll be saved from your enemies. Your tongue is either under your sinful flesh

3:15as control, or it's under the control of God the Father through Jesus according to his spirit. And if it's under your sinful flesh as control, God is still driving it. God is going to keep ungodly men in their chains for the day of perdition. He's going to bend your tongue right back to its own evil as his means of driving to your needs for the sake of repentance. For those of us who've found ourselves in Christ, those of us baptized, washed, regenerated, making a decision daily to renew our spirits according to his word, to prepare the heart with scripture rather than just with the word, the words of the men out there, everything else is being said. Well, we may know, we may know that in the proper time our tongues will give voice to what he wants us to say, which means we are able to say, I'm sorry, when we say it wrong, it means we are able to say this is what the Lord says. Not I heard this, not I think this,

4:16not I think it might mean this is my interpretation. No, no, no, this is what God says. God says, the preparations of the heart belong to man, do it, prepare your heart, struggle, strive, try, look, learn, grow, but know that the answer of the tongue is from Jesus, you're not going to tame your own tongue, you're not going to change who you are, but God will change who you are and his word, his Bible, the scriptures, the best way to have that happen is the gift he's given for reforming the mind, transforming the heart, all these things. Red letter for the day is Luke chapter 7 verse 14 where Jesus says, young man, I say to you arise, the word there, I believe is a Garrow, it could be on a stasis. In either case, it means to get up, but then it also is the word for resurrection and since this guy's dead,

5:16you know, it just means sit up, it means come back from the dead. Young man, I say to you, come back from the dead. This is from the story of the the widow of name. No, Jesus and his disciples are going in name this town and there's this huge progression of of a of a funeral walking out with this dead boy, you know, 15, 18 and his mother who's a widow and she's wailing and the women are screaming and they come life and death contend. Jesus life, this boy dead, the contend and Jesus goes in and he does something unthinkable, he touches the dead body. That's not what you do, not in second temple Judaism. You don't go touch somebody else's dead body ever. I mean, do you ever touch a dead body if you know, reach out, not many people are going to do that, not because we're like unclean, unclean, although, but why don't you do that, right? But for Jesus, this is unclean and clean, he's ritually unclean now. He can't go to temple now for someone on time, he's got to make purifications and all this stuff except for that. No, it's not true. I said to you arise,

6:20all right, his clean rubs off on the dirty. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. And so then for you today, though, so young man, I said you arise, what do you do with a red letter like this? It's in this context, it's in this story. It's important that we don't lose that. But here are the good news of this word. This is exactly what he says to you every day, every way, every place, every time, young man, I say to you, get up. You're preparing your heart, you're struggling, you're looking for truth, you're on X, right? And you're trying to figure it out. Get up. Rise up. Don't let the fear be what drives you. Do the good next thing, right? The stories are meant to stall us. And we're meant to put us into corners where we act in fear or we react in fear. And what Jesus says is, I've got this covered. The death that you see, the trial that you see, the darkness that you see, these are all a passing rainstorm. Your sin is a passing rainstorm.

7:25It will end. Get up. Walk as those redeemed by the justify. Right? And for this, you can know, of course, you know, this is what he's going to say to you on the last day. You're going to be told to come out from your tomb. This body that you have on that's filled with mortality is going to put on immortality. Death, which sting has been removed, but you still feel, that's why we grieve. And death's sting is going to be taken away forever in every single way. And man, I say to you, arise. So back to that proverb, begin to close it up. Now that you're getting up, now that you're hearing Jesus say, come out from the tomb. Now that you're hearing Jesus say, this week is not darkness, but light because I am light and I'm in you. Then remember that the preparations of the heart belong to man. So give yourself to the scriptures. Open the book. Read a song. Read a song out loud. Believe that it's about you in Christ. Believe it is about Christ under God as the king who's the head of all men. Believe that it is the Holy Spirit's work to

8:28inhabit you. Prepare your heart and then know that your tongue is going to work for Jesus from now on. And does it mean you won't have to use discipline? It doesn't mean you won't actually participate. You are going to be a participant in your obedience. It's not going to be against your will except for that you're going to fight your will. It's just it, but you're going to have a new will. And that new will is the answer of God to this world that in Jesus Christ, you are made new. You are justified. You were sanctified. You are his child. Hey, it's your proverb and read letter for the day. Don't let the news get you down. It's going to be a crazy week. There's a lot of noise. There's a lot of noise right now, but do the little thing. I say to you a rise. He is risen. You were paid for. Deal with it. You