Sloppy Agappe: God Knows My Heart....

June 22: Sloppy Agape (God knows my heart…But…)

"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' Luke 13.27

➤Amazing grace! God’s grace does more that provide a cosmetic covering for hurtful actions...it provides the cleaning, scrubbing and restorative work in our hearts, memories and souls. Grace isn’t merely a bandaid...it’s a scalpel...it’s anesthesia...it’s stitches...it’s therapy...it’s restoration. It’s a chance for wholeness.

✔The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. Gen 6.5

✔13 King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king… 14 He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord. 2 Chron 12.13-14

But Jesus…knowing their hearts…

✔Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? (Matt 9.4)

✔Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? (Luke 5.22)

✔But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? (Matt 22.18)

➤Jesus doesn’t merely want to be told to search our hearts…at what point do we begin to seek and know His heart??

Look at the story of Malachi Chapter One and sloppy offerings

• When times were frustrating, people blamed God
• Accusation was that they disrespected God’s name by the offerings they brought
• The sloppy offering showed what they thought about God…a determined how God saw them.
• Try offering this to your governors and others whose favor your desire!

➤Our limited and often-skewed worldview keeps us from understanding where we fit into God’s plan.

• Rest and reward are coming to those who labored with and for God
• We are the new temple and God wants people to experience Him without distraction
• Grace = the nature of God pressing into our worlds, making us acceptable…not contemptible to God.
• We’ve been chosen…not forced…to serve God. This implies choice.
• When we chose God… and God’s ways…Grace opens new levels of favor, power, encouragement, affirmation, alleviation, faith, endurance, hope and joy. All of which aid us in standing for and with our Great God and Sovereign king.

✔Don’t let me want to do evil or waste my time doing wrong with wicked people. Don’t let me even taste the good things they offer. Psalm 141.4

Closing Points:

✺ A pure heart is a beautiful thing to God..it’s the honorable way of loving God.

• A yielded heart is how a heart becomes pure. (Pure<> flawless. Purity rejects impurity)
• The heart is central because it is said to be the seat of our will.
• The heart is where Christ is said to reside in us via the Holy Spirit
• David doesn’t compare his heart to others…or scrutinizes it himself…he asks God to look at it and make a decision on its status and necessary changes

Next Steps

• Decide if God is your good-luck charm or the Captain of your soul
• Pray Psalm 139.23 today and each day this week.
• Ask God to teach you what it really means to love the Lord with all your heart.

Psalm 139:23 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; (NKJV)

Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me;

Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life. (MSG)

23 Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! Psalm 139.23 (AMP)