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themonsterinmeannouncement

Have you ever said something awful, (or hit “send” or “post”) and then thought, “I can’t believe I just said that! That’s not like me!”

Actually, it is.

It’s just you with your filters removed.

It came from your heart.

Bummer.

When I grew up, I remember getting spankings, both at home and at school. It did a marvelous job at changing my behavior, but not my heart. Once I became a Christian, and not just a Cooley, I became concerned about more than my actions. I wanted to be different, not just behave differently.

C.S. Lewis, as usual, puts it the best. He wrote,  Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in the cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light. ”

Our heart has monsters inside. Rats. Maybe it’s a good thing we have filters.

Jesus used fewer words than Lewis. He said, Mt 15:17 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18  But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19  For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20  These are what defile you. (NLT2)  

If you are a follower of Jesus, God has given you a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). If we keep it cleaned out, we shouldn’t need a filter. Somehow, like dust in Rio Rancho, the monsters sneak back in, and a series like this can help us clean the house.

This series is about getting rid of four common monsters in our hearts. The topics and definitions, which were shamelessly stolen from Pastor Andy Stanley’s book Enemies of the Heart, are:

  • 4/11 Guilt, which says I owe you
  • 4/18 Greed, which says I owe me,
  • 4/25 Anger, which says you owe me, and finally
  • 5/2 Jealousy, which says God owes me.

Hope you can join us!

 

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 Our Vision: To be a gospel-centered family impacting our community with the hope of Christ

Heb 6:19 (NIV2011)  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.