Following (Week 2)

Mark 12, Colossians 3

By Michael Lockstampfor, January 14, 2024

What is our heart?

  • Feelings/emotions/desires? → Will (heart/bowels/gut)
    • Decision-maker/capacity to choose
    • Good at simple and large commitments
    • Wears out quickly with minutia and defaults to habits
  • Designed for honoring God
    • (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
    • (Isaiah 29:13-14)
  • Powerful and valuable (Proverbs 4:23)
  • Evaluated most truly by God Himself
    • (Proverbs 16:1)
    • (Proverbs 16:9 )
    • (Proverbs 19:21)

How is our heart?

  • Naturally broken, Untrustworthy (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
  • Bent towards idolization – choosing selfishly (Mark 7:21-23)
  • Evaluated most truly by God Himself (Proverbs 21:2)
  • Fixable
    • (Psalm 34:18)
    • (Psalm 51:10)
    • (Ezekiel 36:26)

How is our heart reformed?

  • Usually: slowly, over time in ways that are difficult to notice
  • “We are designed to grow towards what we focus on.” (Colossians 3:1-17)
  • What usually has captivated our attention?
  • Surrender for inspection/Worship
    • Expression - God is not afraid of how we are feeling, share the broad range
    • Formation → Calendar → worship/remember/celebration
    • Isaac Wardell in LITURGY, MUSIC & SPACE – pg 22
      • “Christian worship is made healthy and strong by faithful cultivation of biblical practices. (1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7, 13-20)”
      • “God wants to build us together into something stronger and more beautiful than what we could be alone.”
  • Understanding/agreement/belief is the beginning (Mark 12:32-34)

**Regularly celebrating Jesus motivates our heart want to follow Him. **

  • Do we agree with God about the condition of our heart?
  • Will we agree with Him about the solution to our heart-sickness?
  • What usually has captivated our attention?